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MODERN 
FARM BUILDINGS 




MODERN 
FARM BUILDINGS 



BEING SUGGESTIONS FOR THE MOST APPROVED WAYS 
OF DESIGNING THE COW BARN, DAIRY, HORSE 
BARN, HAY BARN, SHEEPCOTE, PIGGERY, MANURE 
PIT, CHICKEN HOUSE, ROOT CELLAR, ICE HOUSE, 
AND OTHER BUILDINGS OF THE FARM GROUP, 
ON PRACTICAL, SANITARY AND ARTISTIC LINES 



BY 

ALFRED HOPKINS 

A. A. I. A. 



NEW YORK 
ROBERT M. McBRIDE 6- CO. 

1920 



Copyright, 1913, by 

McBride, Nast, & Co. 

Copyright, 1920 

Robert M. McBride & Co. 






MAK 24 1920 



New and Revised Edition 
Published 1920 



©ft A 565332 

'WO I 



PREFACE 

DURING the past twelve years the author has had occasion 
to design many farm buildings, varying from the small- 
est establishment to those of considerable extent. Amid all 
the improved ideas about the care of milk which have de- 
veloped in the past decade, it has frequently been difficult for 
the architect to formulate conclusions from the mass of data 
compiled, and the many opinions expressed by those whose 
work has led them into the scientific analysis of milk and of 
milk production. In this search for facts, the author has 
come into contact with the bacteriologist — impressed by noth- 
ing but the thing he feels to be necessary to give a sterile 
sample of milk; with the enthusiastic herdsman — looking to 
a record for his cow, with no thought but for the quantity of 
milk; with the veterinary — who cares neither for milk nor 
milk production, but is concerned only with the health of the 
animal; and with the farm superintendent — who, perhaps, 
takes no special delight in milk production or scientific hygiene 
for his cattle, but whose first thought is for the arrangement 
that will permit the work to be done in the easiest possible 
manner. To reconcile these views is the hope which has in- 
spired the following pages. A vain hope, perhaps, but a real 
one. 

Though the author has been greatly interested in acquiring, 
in the cause of clean milk, the information here set down — 
information for the farmer, the herdsman, the dairyman — 



PREFACE 



yet, quite equal to his interest on the practical side, has been 
his interest in the design of the farm buildings from the stand- 
point of the architect. He long ago became convinced of the 
delightful architectural possibilities of the farm barn — pos- 
sibilities which have not been appreciated, either by his con- 
freres or by the public at large ; and this work has been under- 
taken with the idea of setting forth these possibilities quite as 
much from the esthetic as from the practical side. 

He wishes to acknowledge here his indebtedness to many 
friends who have helped him in his work : to Mr. S. L. Stewart, 
for his assistance on the method of milking ; indeed the chap- 
ter on Administration is virtually a description of the man- 
ner in which milk is made at the Brookside Farm; to Mr. 
James A. Reburn, for many suggestions with regard to the 
detail of the cow barn; to Mr. Harlo J. Fiske, manager of 
Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y., for much that is comprised 
in the chapter on the Chicken House; to the author's friend, 
Mr. A. Foxton Ferguson, who has proved that friendship 
many times over by reading through his manuscript and giv- 
ing to it the benefit of his literary skill ; and last, but by no 
means least, to Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., who has entrusted 
to his care the architectural work on the beautiful Skylands 
Farm, giving him a free hand in the carrying out of every 
detail, who has been receptive of every thought which would 
improve any of the buildings in appearance or usefidness, has 
been patient with the perplexities of building and always help- 
ful in suggestion. It has been a rare privilege to cooperate 
with him and the author here writes his grateful acknowledg- 
ment. 

Alfred Hopkins 

New York City, Sept. 7, 1912. 



PREFACE TO THIRD EDITION 

The author was very glad of the opportunity afforded by his 
book going into a further edition to include additional matter 
which he hopes will set forth more clearly than before the pos- 
sibilities which farm buildings offer for attractive architec- 
ture. He was always disappointed in the first and second 
editions which do not show this side of his work to advantage, 
but the exigencies of the business of publication could not be, 
or at any rate were not overcome, and his volume was incom- 
plete in artistic illustration. He has therefore added some 
thirty-two photographs and a chapter which takes up briefly 
the different materials in common use to-day. 

New York, Nov. 13, 1919. 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE- 

I Artistic Possibilities of the Farm Building . ,. „ . . 15 

II The Cow Barn 20 

Feed Room 23 

Milk Room 27 

Location of Cattle 27 

Materials 29 

Sizes 31 

Arrangement of Cattle 32 

Cow Stalls 35 

Calf Pens 39 

Bull Pens 41 

Watering and Feeding Troughs 42 

Water 45 

Floors and Floor Drainage 46 

Liquid Manure 49 

Plumbing 53 

Ventilation 54 

Artificial Heat 60 

Manure Trolley 61 

Bedding 62 

Silos 64 

Cow Yard 69 

Painting 71 

Blinds and Flies 72 

Doors 73 

Windows 75 

Utensils 77 

III The Dairy 79 

Milk Receiving Room 81 

Milk Room 82 

Wash Room 88 

Laundry 90 

Boiler Room: Live Steam 92 

Plans of Dairies 93 

Heating and Ventilating of the Dairy 97 

IV Administration 99 

Milking Machines 107 

Vacuum Cleaner 108 

V Other Buildings of the Farm Group 110 

The Hay Barn 110 



CONTENTS 



CHAPTER PAQB 

The Farm Stables 114 

Wagon Eoom 114 

Harness Eoom 114: 

Horse Stable 115 

Stalls 118 

Feed Room 121 

Sheds 121 

Machinery Eoom and Tool Eoom 122 

Leaders 123 

Hardware 123 

VI Plans of Farm Barns 127 

At Oyster Bay, L. 1 127 

At Ehinebeck, N. Y 130 

At Scarsboro, N. Y 132 

At Westbury, L. 1 135 

At Greenwich, Conn 138 

At Sterlington, N. Y 140 

At Islip, L. 1 143 

At Morristown, 1ST. J 146 

At Woodbury Falls, N. Y 147 

At Brookville, L. 1 149 

At Oyster Bay, L. 1 151 

At North Easton, Mass 153 

At New Boston, N. H 155 

The Briarcliff Farm, White Plains, N. Y 157 

Proposed Farm Buildings at Port Chester, N. Y 159 

VII The Smaller Problem 165 

VIII The Garage 170 

The Independent Garage 173 

IX Other Buildings of the Farm 180 

Chicken Houses 180 

Poultry Bibliography 189 

Sheepfold 190 

Manure Pit and Piggery 195 

Root Cellar 200 

Ice House 203 

Corn Crib 205 

X The Materials for Farm Buildings 207 

The Stone Building 208 

The Brick Building 214 

The Wooden Building 216 

The Stucco Building 223 

The Farmer's Cottage 229 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 

Farm buildings for Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., Sterlington, 

N. Y Frontispiece 

FACING PAGB 

Water tower for Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., Oyster Bay, L. 1 15 

Coach stable and coachman's cottage for Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., 

Sterlington, X. Y 16 

Farm building for H. M. Tilford, Esq., Munroe, N. Y 17 

Tool house, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 28 

Old farm buildings on Long Island 28 

Interior of a commercial cow barn 29 

Cow barn interior, showing steel stanchions 29 

Interior of cow barn with pipe stalls arranged for the tie 36 

Bull yard and exerciser 37 

Continuous and divided feeding-troughs 42 

Manure trolley and carrier 43 

Sliding hay door near the ridge 76 

Cow barn windows 76 

A corner of the dairy for Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., Oy6ter Bay, L. I. . . 77 

Concrete cooling-vat in milk room 82 

Galvanized-iron can for ice-water 82 

Milk cooler for commercial plant and bottling-table 83 

Milk cooler and bottle filler for the small plant 83 

The dairy wash sink 88 

Two kinds of pipe-rack dairy tables 88 

High-pressure sterilizer 89 

Laundry machine for the dairy 89 

An ice house in the woods 110 

Hosing out the cow barn 110 

Two methods of framing the hay barn Ill 

The farm shed in the group for F. G. Bourne, Esq., Oakdale, L. I. . . . 126 

The West Point horse stall 126 

Farm buildings for Tracy Dows, Esq., Bhinebeck, N. Y 127 ■■ 

Farm buildings for Louis C. Tiffany, Esq., Oyster Bay, L. 1 128 

Farm buildings for Tracy Dows, Esq., Khinebeck, N. Y 129 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING PAGE 

Farm buildings for James Speyer, Esq., Searboro, N. Y 132 

Drinking-trough and pergola in the farm group for James Speyer, Esq., 

Searboro, N. Y 133 

Farm buildings for Charles Steele, Esq., Westbury, L. 1 136 

Farm buildings for H. F. Fisher, Esq., Greenwich, Conn 137 

Farm buildings for Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., Sterlington, UST. Y. . . 140 

Farm buildings for S. T. Peters, Esq., Islip, L. 1 141 

The dairy in the farm group for S. T. Peters, Esq., Islip, L. I. . . . 144 

Farm buildings for Charles E. Rushmore, Esq., Woodbury Falls, N. Y. . 145 

Farm buildings for 0. H. Kahn, Esq., Morristown, N. J 145 

Farm buildings for J. E. Davis, Esq., Brookville, L. 1 148 

Farm buildings for J. E. Davis, Esq., Brookville, L. 1 149 

Details in the farm group for Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., Oyster Bay, L. I. 152 

Farm buildings for F. L. Ames, Esq., North Easton, Mass 153 

Furm barns for the J. Peed Whipple Co., New Boston, N. H 156 

Proposed farm buildings for the late Hugh J. Chisolm, Esq., Portchester, 

N. Y 157 

Planting about the dairy in the farm group for Mortimer L. Schiff, Esq., 

Oyster Bay, L. 1 164 

Temporary garage for Clifford V. Brokaw, Esq., Glen Cove, L. I. . . . 165 

Stable and garage for C. P. Agnew, Esq., Armonk, N. Y 172 

Piggery for S. T. Peters, Esq., Islip, L. 1 173 

Garage for S. T. Peters, Esq., Islip, L. 1 173 

Chicken houses for Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., Sterlington, N. Y. . . 180 

Colony houses permanently located 181 

Interior of brooder house 181 

Covered manure pit, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 188 

Interior of a chicken house 188 

Sheepfold and shepherd's quarters for Francis Lynde Stetson, Esq., Ster- 
lington, N. Y 189 

Interior of 6heepfold, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 192 

The piggery, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 193 

Corn crib in the farm group for Clifford V. Brokaw, Esq., Glen Cove, L. I. 204 

Two types of corn crib 205 

Stone gable, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 206 

Pear of Tilford Farm buildings, Monroe, N. Y 206 

Farm buildings for Henry M. Tilford, Esq., Monroe, N. Y 207 

Gate lodge, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 207 

Coachman's cottage, Skylands Farm, Sterlington, N. Y 212 

Dairy for Clifford V. Brokaw, Esq., Glen Cove, L. 1 212 



THE ILLUSTRATIONS 



FACING PAGE 

Farm buildings for A. Watsou Armour, Esq., Lake Forest, 111. . 213 

Detail of side entrance of Brewster garage, Brookville, L. 1 21C 

Bull pen tower for Percy E. Pyne, Esq., Bernardsville. X. J 21G 

Garage for George S. Brewster, Esq., Brookville, L. 1 217 

Garage for Clifford V. Brokaw, Esq., Glen Cove, L. 1 217 

Farm buildings tor Adolph Mollenhauer, Esq., Bayshore, L. 1. . . .218 
General view of farm buildings for Medill McCormick, Esq., Byron, 111. 219 
General view of farm buildings for George S. Brewster, Esq., Brookville, 

L. 1 224 

Farm buildings for George S. Brewster, Esq., Brookville, L. I. . 225 

Entrance to men's quarters, Brewster Farm buildings, Brookville, L. I. . 226 
Dairy and end of cow barns, Burchard Farm buildings. Locust Valley, L. I. 22G 
Farm buildings for Anson W. Burchard, Esq., Locust Valley, L. I. . . 227 

Farm buildings for Howard Brokaw, Esq., Brookville, L. 1 230 

Gardener's cottages for Mrs. C. R. Thorn, Massapequa, L. L, and Glenn 

Stewart, Esq., Locust Valley, L. 1 231 




AN ATTRACTIVE LOCATION FOR SUCH A STRUCTURE. WATER 
TOWER FOR .MORTIMER I.. SCHIFF, ESQ., OYSTER BAY, E. I. 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

Chapter I 

AUTISTIC POSSIBILITIES OF THE FARM 
BUILDING 

THE country has always attracted man as a place in which 
to rear his habitation and no matter how complex are 
his urban interests there is in the human heart a lurking de- 
sire sooner or later to revert to the soil. The effort of the 
architect to make beautiful the country home furnishes many 
interesting examples all over the world, though the most fa- 
mous of these are to be found in Italy. Here the art of the 
architect finds its proper complement in the art of the gar- 
dener, and under the beautiful Italian skies the villa and its 
gardens reached a perfect development. In England the 
country estate has achieved a rare degree of importance, but 
while more acreage is brought under immediate cultivation, 
the result is at times lacking in charm when the more serious 
Northern effort is compared with the lightness and the grace 
of the South. While the Italian and the English phases of 
country life are captivating and have been the source of 
almost all our inspiration, yet it must be left to our own ar- 
chitects to develop and perfect an American ideal of the coun- 
try home ; and never were opportunities more golden. 

As the home needs the adornment of shrubs and trees and 
flowers, so do the fields and meadows require the amiable pres- 
ence of animals to complete the picture; and indeed it may 

15 



16 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

be argued that they and not man are the real tenants of the 
soil, and to house them properly and fittingly is a problem 
that no artist need despise. The various buildings necessary 
for their several uses are capable of such an infinite variety 
of groupings, that the requirements of the farm would seem 
to offer more scope to the architect than do the problems of 
the house. There are the tall towers for water or ensilage; 
the long, low creeping sheds for the storage of wood, farm 
implements and machinery ; and the huge protecting and dom- 
inating structures required for the proper housing of the hay, 
grain and straw. With these buildings in effective combina- 
tion and appropriately placed among the fields, the picture of 
the farm can be made so pleasing, and the idea of going back 
to Nature as the source of all sustenance so ingratiating, that 
it would be possible to build up an effective philosophy on 
the principle that the architecture of the home should be made 
to resemble the architecture of the farm, rather than the other 
way about. While the various examples of farm barns, which 
are to follow, may not at all times substantiate this view, yet 
we trust that some of these may be found of sufficient interest 
to impress upon the man with landed estates that in his farm 
buildings he has delightful architectural possibilities which 
should not be ignored or entrusted to incompetent hands. 

As the buildings are capable of such variety of architectural 
expression, they not only demand a proper and adequate en- 
vironment, but they are entitled to it by every reason, prac- 
tical as well as artistic. They should not be shunted off into 
an out-of-the-way corner or placed at a disadvantage because 
of a mistaken idea that farm buildings are not worthy of a 
picturesque or an important position. Each one of the cen- 
ters of interest on an estate has its own individuality which 




RAMBLING ROOI I IMS 




ROUGH FIELD STONE AND HEWN" TIMBERS. COACH STABLE ANL> 

COACHMAN'S COTTAGE FOR FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON, ESQ., 

STERLINGTON, N. Y. 



ARTISTIC POSSIBILITIES 17 

must be respected. The house place with its hospitality of 
garden, lawn or grove; the farmstead; the stabling and 
garage; the deer park; the lakes or watercourses with their 
verdured shores — each contributes to the fascination of the 
whole; but since it is in human nature to become fatigued 
with what is continually before the view, it is well to give to 
these various centers a certain seclusion of their own. This 
would suggest the choosing of a site for the farm barns well 
away from the immediate haunts of the home, and where 
they may be visited only by a pilgrimage through pleasant 
fields and lanes. 

There is no doubt that an ideal situation is to be found 
on the top of a hill, where the long, low buildings can be 
thrown into prominence against the background of the sky. 
Here would be an inspiration for the designer to bring out 
the full effectiveness of his sky line, always a splendid pos- 
sibility and one to which the diversities of the farm group 
so readily lend themselves. While the crest of a hill is cer- 
tain to offer an effective treatment, yet a position half way 
down a long southern slope also provides an admirable set- 
ting, desirable in some climates and localities for the protec- 
tion it gives in winter, where the force of the north wind may 
be tempered by the high-lying land in that direction. No 
builder who enters into the practical consideration of his 
problem will choose a site where the waters from the adjacent 
land cannot be easily turned aside, nor one where the drain- 
age from the buildings themselves cannot be readily con- 
ducted away. 

To speculate upon the architectural type of the structure 
is a fascinating occupation for the artist, but all esthetic dis- 
cussion of the farm barn finally resolves itself into the view 



18 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

that the keynote of the whole scheme should be simplicity 
of construction and detail, and that all the well-worn motives 
of architectural ornament should be abandoned ; and this view 
obtains not only in the outlines of the exterior, but in the in- 
terior plan of the structure as well. The author long ago 
gave up the idea of formulating a plan for the farm barn 
along the generally accepted lines of architectural symmetry. 
This scheme of design is entirely too rigid to suit the problem 
either artistically or practically, and a more flexible manner 
should be chosen. The special uses of the various portions of 
the buildings are so different that, for example, it is difficult 
to reproduce in strict architectural symmetry the quarters for 
the horses in a wing that shall be identical in appearance with 
the quarters for the cows, without sacrificing very consider- 
ably the practical requirements of either one wing or the 
other. The strictly formal plan and elevation which the ar- 
chitect has devised as fitting for the stately palace and the 
great garden, seems entirely out of place when he comes to 
the humbler problem of the farm. Here the rambling, happy- 
go-lucky type of plan will yield fully as much in artistic value 
and will hamper the architect less in his effort to combine 
the practical with the beautiful. 

The local materials, whatever they are, will be the least 
expensive in cost and the most suitable in appearance. Noth- 
ing could be more fitting than to build the farm barn in rough 
stone or of rived cypress shingles — or of stone and shingles 
in combination. Stucco presents an admirable surface for 
this character of structure; the vines grow well on it, and the 
moving shadows from the trees give it a continual variation 
of light and shade which always lends a charm to its surface. 
Brick may be used with equal propriety and effect and in the 



ARTISTIC POSSIBILITIES 19 

old-fashioned weatherboarding of the farmer's barn there 
are still hidden possibilities of design that only await dis- 
covery by the artist who shall know how to nse them. 

The irregularities of site frequently offer equally interest- 
ing opportunities ; for when the buildings cover a considerable 
ground area, or when, as often occurs in rolling districts, a 
level site of sufficient extent is not available, the architect may 
then greatly increase the interest of his work by placing his 
buildings at different levels, thereby letting his structure 
adapt itself more to the conformation of the ground. This is 
a phase of country building which he has been slow to appre- 
ciate, for his habitual custom is to level off all inequalities of 
site and construct a plain or plateau on which to rear his 
building. It is, therefore, well for him to proceed with cau- 
tion if it becomes necessary to lay violent hands upon Nature's 
outlines, and not to mar her beauty by unnecessary cuts, fills, 
or embankments, nor with roads of too great a prominence, 
for even these should be carefully contrived and screened 
with plants and trees, so as not to make an obtrusive scar 
upon the face of the landscape. 

Nothing is more helpful to the architect's work than the 
soft influence of vines and trees and shrubs, and the considera- 
tion of these shovdd not be neglected, for nowhere are they 
more appropriate than in the environment of the farm build- 
ing, where their presence will soften the hard, constructional 
lines of the builder. The farm barn should have, therefore, 
every benefit which the growing plant and vine can yield and 
nestle quietly and unobtrusively where it will give to the eye 
the sense of shelter and of animal comfort and quiet. 



Chapter II 
THE COW BAEN 

WE will now leave, somewhat reluctantly, the architec- 
tural possibilities of the farm barn, and take up what 
must always come first in the consideration of any building 
project — its practical requirements. 

It would seem proper to commence the discussion of the 
modern farm building with the cow barn, which is the most 
important building in the group; we will then proceed to a 
consideration of the dairy, with which it is intimately con- 
nected, and finally, we shall review the uses to which both 
are put, so far as such uses influence the general plan of the 
building. 

With the idea of the purity of the milk constantly in mind, 
it must be remembered that the sources of its contamination 
are now no longer to be found in sewage, manure and the filth 
that used to prevail at the farm barn twenty or thirty years 
ago. Then nobody thought it necessary to pay any special 
attention to the sanitary condition of the cow, and the most 
unsanitary conditions in the matter of her care and environ- 
ment prevailed generally. The milk methods of that time 
have been strikingly brought out by Dr. Wm. T. Sedgwick 
in his "Principles of Sanitary Science and the Public 
Health": "It should never be forgotten that if water were 
to be drawn, as milk is, from the body of a cow standing in a 
stable, by the hands of workmen of questionable cleanliness, 
and then stood and transported over long distances in im- 

20 



THE COW BAEN 



21 



perfectly cleaned, closed cans, being further manipulated 
more or less, and finally left at the doors at an uncertain hour 
of the day, few would care to drink it, because its pollution 
and staleness would be obvious. ... It is clear, " he goes on 
to say, "that milk requires and deserves more careful treat- 
ment than water, for it is more valuable, more trusted, and 
more readily falsified and decomposed." 

Now that the habit and knowledge of cleanliness is more 
general, it has been observed that the infection of milk is not 




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CATTLE YARD 



FIG. 1— PLAN SHOWING SIMPLEST POSSIBLE ARRANGEMENT OF COW BARN FOE 
YOUNG STOCK AND MILKING COWS — FEED BEING STORED OVER YOUNG STOCK 



so much due to the virulent pathogenic germ found in filthy 
and unsanitary surroundings, as to the bacteria on the dust 
in the stable, and especially the dust of the feed, grain and 
hay. For this reason it is desirable to place the milking cows 
as far as possible from the storage of hay, bedding and the 
like, which brings up at once the question as to whether it is 
advisable at all to store hay over the animals, although long 
custom has established that usage. Under certain conditions 



22 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

— especially in cases where the floor between the cows and the 
loft above is fireproof, and where there is no communication 
between the storage of hay above and the cows beneath — it 
would be possible to put the hay over the animals without 
great damage to the milk. Fig. 1 shows a plan where the 
storage of hay is above the animals, drawn down into a feed 
room between the milking cows and the young stock, but even 
here the hay loft should be filled from the back and the bulk 
of the hay stored above the young stock and feed room, in 
preference to using the space over the milking cows. The 
great objection to hay above the milking cows is that at hay- 
ing time so much dust is caused in filling the lofts that the 
making of good milk during that period is impossible, even 
with all the windows of the milking barn closed. For that 
reason the hay is best put into the barn at the rear of the 
building, and as far removed from the quarters of the milk- 
ing cow as possible. This is the simplest type of barn for the 
man who wants to take care of his stock at a minimum cost of 
building and labor, and there is no reason why, with proper 
care, milk should not be made in such a structure which 
would answer every requirement of clean milk. In the au- 
thor's practice, however, he has always endeavored to carry 
out the idea which aims at separating entirely the storage of 
the feed and hay from the housing of the animals, not only 
on account of the contamination of the milk by the dust in the 
feed, but equally on account of the contamination of the feed 
from the odors of the stable. Man has only to think how 
loathsome his own food would become if tainted by the fumes 
of sewage,- to realize how greatly the quality and value of the 
fodder for his animals would be lessened by a similar con- 
tamination. If hay is ever stored above the live stock, par- 



THE COW BAEN 23 

ticular care should be taken that none of the fumes of the 
stable can reach it. The vent ducts may go through the hay- 
loft, but they should be carefully papered and sheathed tight 
on both sides of the studding, and on no account should they 
open into the loft for any reason whatever. The custom of 
throwing hay down into the stable below through the vent 
duct must not be tolerated. 

FEED ROOM. — From a scientific as well as a practical 
point of view, the feed room is just as necessary for the care 
of the animal as the pantry is to the service in the human 
household. It is located between the hay barn and the cows, 
and is the place into which the feed is drawn, and there cut 
and mixed. The door of the feed room should always be 
closed when feed is being prepared, or when dust from it is 
liable to get into the cow barn, no matter whether the cows 
are being milked or not. The feed room should be a place 
solely for the preparation of the feed, and not for the storage 
of it. Hay is cared for in the hay barn and, in fact, the gen- 
eral storage of meal, grain, etc., is best effected above the feed 
room and not in it. In fact a very good system of feeding 
is to mix the feed either above or away from the feed room, 
and so keep the dust occasioned by mixing out of the feed 
room entirely. Grain is almost invariably sold in bags, even 
when bought in carload lots, and the proper storage of feed 
is to keep it in the bags ; feed keeps fresher in bags than when 
stored in bulk, and consequently the feed bins need not be 
any larger than is necessary to hold a week's supply. When 
empty they are refilled from the bags of stored meal. Feed 
bins are invariably lined with metal, the four sides as well 
as the covers; and if projected down into the room below, as 
shown by Fig. 2, the feed will not clog up and cake in the 




FIG. 2— SECTION OP FEED BIN 
[24] 



THE COW BARN 



25 



bottom of the bins, but will run freely through the chutes. 
Tour compartments are desirable, though three are usually 
sufficient — two small ones and one or two larger ones, as the 
young stock, dry stock, and milking cows all require different 
rations. 

The feeding cart, as well as all utensils for mixing the feed 
Bhould be kept scrupulously clean. "Water must be had at a 




FIG. 3— A TTPICAL PLAN FOE HOUSING A HERD OF FOURTEEN MILKING COWS, 
FOUR DRY STOCK, SEVEN YOUNG STOCK AND A BULL 

place convenient for cleaning — preferably both steam and 
water. In the plan illustrated by Fig. 3 a separate small 
room has been provided with steam connections, not only for 
the keeping but for the special cleaning of the feed carts, 
manure carriers and all the utensils of the cow stable. 

It is desirable, especially in large plans, that the feed room 
should have an outside door, so located that a loaded wagon 
may be driven through it easily without backing. There is 
no objection to backing out empty; but all places of storage 



26 



MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 



should certainly be located where they can be reached with- 
out it being necessary to back when loaded. 

Root cellars are frequently placed below the feed room but 
since ensilage has come into such favor with dairymen, the 
use of roots in feeding is less general than it was, and the root 
cellar is now kept more for the storage of vegetables and 
fruits, when it is best located away from the farm barn en- 
tirely. Root cellars under feed room and under portions of 
the hay barn are very liable to freeze in extremely cold 
weather and, in order to avoid this, it is well to have a chimney 
whose flue, not less than 12x16 in., can be used for ventilation 
and also for a stove. Ventilation in the root cellar is essen- 
tial and this must be so arranged as to allow the air to circu- 
late through every part of it. 

Access from the feed room to the root cellar below or to 




FIG. 4— SHOWING SANITARY COVE FORMED 
OF CONCRETE AT FOOT OF LADDER STAIRS 



storage above should always be had by steps and not by ladder. 
It is frequently necessary for the man to carry something 
above or below which cannot be done handily on a ladder. 
Fig. 4 shows the usual type of such steps, with the bottom 



THE COW BARN 27 

of the stringer raised upon a concrete base to avoid the sharp 
angle of the stringer with the floor. 

MILK ROOM. — In the larger establishment a milk room 
at the barn is desirable, where should be placed the usual 
twenty-quart can into which the milk from the milkers' pails 
is poured. Here the scales and records of each cow are kept, 
and the basins are placed in which the men wash their hands 
after each milking. This milk room is entered by double- 
swinging doors which must be opened by the milker pushing 
them with his elbows and not with his hands. If special care 
is required the milk room may be separated from the cow 
barn by two doors. For the smaller problem an alcove may 
be formed at the cow barn, where a wash-basin and towel are 
placed. A milk room may be placed at the end of a passage- 
way and adjoin the dairy, all of which arrangements may be 
seen in subsequent plans. The real reason for this room is 
to provide a place that may be kept free from flies, odors and 
dust. If the cow barn is such a place (and it should be) 
then the necessity for a milk room diminishes and, as will be 
seen from some of the plans, it has occasionally been omitted, 
in the hope that ideal conditions at the cow barn may prevail 
and that the milk room may not be required. These ideals 
however, have seldom been realized. 

LOCATION OF CATTLE.— The milking cows must al- 
ways be kept separate from the young stock and the dry cows, 
and to avoid all confusion as to what class of cattle is meant, 
cows giving milk will be designated as milking cows, the 
others as dry stock or young stock. A greater degree of 
cleanliness is necessary for the milking cows, and conse- 
quently they should be in an apartment by themselves, away 
from the dry stock, young stock and all other animals. This 



28 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



separation is so important that it cannot be insisted upon 
too strongly. 

The best exposure for the cow barn is undoubtedly with its 
long axis northwest and southeast ; this places the building so 
that it will receive the greatest benefit from the cooling sum- 
mer breezes and the warming winter sun; and the windows 
should be large and numerous so as to be effective in both 
seasons. 1 The separate wing for the cows which gives air on 
three, if not four, sides is a much better plan than to quarter 
them within a building which limits their exposure to only 
one or two sides. Care should also be taken so to place other 
structures of the farm group that they will not deprive the 
animals, whether cows or horses, of the sun and air which 
they need. Fig. 3 illustrates a typical plan for housing a herd 
of fourteen milking cows, four dry stock, seven young stock 
and a bull. The necessary calf and calving pens are provided. 
These latter are interchangeable and are used for the cow to 
have her calf in, also for the rearing of the young animal. It 
is possible, and in fact desirable, in a herd of this size, to ac- 
commodate all the cattle — young stock, dry stock and milking 
cows — under one roof. One compartment has been provided 
for the milking cows and another for the young stock, dry 
stock and the bull ; connecting with the former is the covered 
passage to the dairy; with the latter is the feed room with a 
place already noted for the cleaning and keeping of the va- 

i Those who wish to go more carefully into the placing of a building with regard to 
its exposure, will be much interested in a little volume, "The Orientation of Buildings 
or Planning for Sunlight," by William Atkinson — John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1912. 
Mr. Atkinson points out very clearly the importance of the orientation of the hospital 
and shows how the plan may be devised so that no part of the adjoining ground need 
be in complete shadow cast by the walls of the building. Such an arrangement of plan 
is doubly desirable for the farm building, and for the commercial building where artistic 
considerations are ignored, this point should never be neglected. 




TOOL HOUSE IN Jill. WOODS, SKYLANDS FARM, STERLINGTON, \. V 




OLD FARM BUILDIXGS OX LOXG ISLAXD— ARTISTIC, BUT UNSANITARY 




INTERIOR OF A COMMERCIAL COW BARN 




COW BARN INTERIOR, SHOWING STEEL STANCHIONS AND ALSO AN 
EXCELLENT TYPE OF THE FEEDING-TROUGH— LOW AND BROAD 



THE COW BARN 29 

rious utensils of the cow barn — pitchforks, shovels, brooms, 
brushes, curry-combs, etc. It is always better to locate the 
young stock between the milking cows and the feed room, as 
the milking cows should not be disturbed by traffic through 
their quarters into the young stock barn. 

In planning for a given number of animals, it is necessary 
to know approximately what ratio exists between the milking 
cows, dry stock and young stock, so that the proper accommo- 
dations for each may be provided. This ratio is variable 
according to conditions. The owner may not desire to raise 
his young stock, though in this case he loses one of the most 
attractive and interesting occupations of the farm; but if he 
does, and the natural conditions prevail, from thirty per cent, 
to fifty per cent, of the entire herd will be young stock or dry 
stock. Or, if he starts with a number of milking cows, accom- 
modations for from fifty per cent, to seventy-five per cent, of 
that number will be required for his young stock and dry 
stock. There should be one calf pen for every four or five 
milking cows in small herds, and this proportion may be re- 
duced to one calf pen for every ten cows in the larger herds. 

MATERIALS. — The material for the interior surface of 
the cow barn is selected with a view toward the elimination of 
all wood. Even in a wooden structure the interior walls can 
be entirely covered with non-absorbent materials, which ren- 
der it possible to make a wooden building just as sanitary as 
one of masonry. To get this result it is necessary that the 
walls to the height of 3 ft., 8 in. or 4 ft. above the floor (or 
to the under side of the windowsills) be plastered in Port- 
land cement, using the same mixture as for the top coating 
of the concrete floor, and forming a cement dado all around 
the building. This cement dado, as well as the plastering 



30 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

above, is best put on galvanized iron lath. Above this point 
the walls and ceilings are plastered in the usual manner but 
finished with some hard substance, such as Keene's cement. 
To reduce cost slightly the ordinary hard-finish plastering on 
wooden lath above the cement dado gives fairly satisfactory 
results, and it is well to observe here that plastering of the 
simplest kind is very much better than the old-fashioned 
method of sheathing with wood and varnishing the interior 
of stables. To this method there is every objection — the 
woodwork is absorbent in spite of the varnish, the varnish 
deteriorates in a very short time, it makes a dark stable, and 
is more expensive than the plastering. All offsets in the plas- 
tering should be carefully avoided and 3-in. coves run at 
all interior angles, while all exterior angles should be rounded. 
Where the cement dado and the white plastering on the side 
walls come together it is never desirable to make a joint; let 
the mason finish the two materials as smoothly together as 
possible. At the connection a 4-in. stripe may be painted, 
which, however, must be done in some damp-resisting paint, 
as the ordinary oil paint would be discolored by the action 
of the cement. 

It is possible to avoid all wood in the interior of the cow 
barn, except in the doors and window sash. In some in- 
stances, where perfection has been sought, iron window frames 
and doors have been installed, but they are much more expen- 
sive, being harder to set and to repair, and rather more likely 
than wood to need repair, so that wooden doors and window 
sash seem to answer all requirements, even from the strictest 
hygienic standpoint. The doors, however, are better if 
sheathed smooth on the inside than paneled in the ordinary 
fashion. The idea of doing away with all dust-catching pro- 



THE COW BARN 



31 



jections should be carried out even to the very smallest detail. 
This point cannot be insisted on too strongly, for it is aston- 
ishing how the dust from the hay will collect wherever it can 
find lodgment; for this reason even the muntins in the win- 



5HINQLES 
14-* O. c- 



ROOF PITCH 
e'-O* OH IZ-o" 




SioiNq 

P^PEfc- 
HEA.-THINQ 

STUD J £*X*1 
2.-4- ' O. c. 



FIG. 5.— SECTION THROUGH A COW BARN 18 FT. WIDE 



dow sash are designed without moldings, while all horizontal 
muntins are best omitted entirely. 

SIZES. — The various State legislatures in the United 
States require that cow stables shall allow a volume of from 
five hundred to eight hundred cubic feet of air per cow, but 
an average between these will be all that is necessary. This, 
reduced to the simplest formula, will work out about as fol- 
lows : — 

Cow stables for double rows of cows should have a minimu m 



32 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



width of 36 ft. ; for a single row of cows, a minimum width 
of 18 ft. The height of the ceiling can vary from 8 ft. to 10 
ft.; in colder climates the lesser dimension, and in warmer 
the greater one. Cow stables for double rows of cows have 
been made as wide as 42 ft., but this is too wide; it makes a 
cold stable in winter and the extra width involves a needless 
expense. A width of 36 ft. is sufficient for stables where the 



■SHIUOLL LATH 
R»m*S iVltf. 
IV O.C 



HTCM 8 - -0" ON ll-O* 




-SlO.NQ 

f— PA.PER 
SHICTHING 
ZX6* STUDS 
2-4-"0.c. 

sill. Vxtf 

qpNCRETL 



. la'stoHi 



FIG. 6 — SECTION THROUGH A COW BAEN 36 FT. WIDE 

2-ft. trough is used, and 38 ft. or 39 ft. where the wide trough 
is contemplated. Figs. 5 and 6 will show the exact dimen- 
sions of passageways, troughs, gutters, etc., in an 18-ft. and 
a 36-ft. cow stable. It is always desirable to have a passage- 
way entirely around the cows, though in smaller farm build- 
ings the passageway may be omitted at one end. 

ARRANGEMENT OF CATTLE.— For double rows of 
cattle it is generally conceded that placing them face to face 
is the best, as it also is the most sightly arrangement. It has 
the advantage of simplifying the process of feeding; it brings 



THE COW BAEN 33 

the glitters next to the windows, where the sunshine will steril- 
ize them ; and it gives the milker more light for his work — a 
decided advantage on dull days. 

The worst feature of placing the cows with their tails to- 
gether, is that the manure dropping in one gutter will some- 
times splash across an 8-ft. passageway and on to the udders 
of the cattle opposite. It can readily be seen that this is un- 
desirable and especially so at the actual time of milking, when 
not only the milker and his pail may be fouled, but the milk 
itself. Though this perhaps may be of rare occurrence, the 
bare possibility of such a thing should be effectually guarded 
against. It is frequently convenient, however, to put the 
young stock or dry stock, tails together, as will be shown later; 
this arrangement generally simplifies the tracking for the 
manure trolley. The passageway between the cows, when 
they are placed head to head, should always be kept wide 
enough to prevent one cow from breathing in the face of the 
one opposite. On a cold winter's morning an occasional sigh 
or cough will send the frosted breath almost across an 8-ft. 
passageway, so that the distance between the troughs should 
never be less than this. Also, in order not to pocket the air 
in front of the cattle, the front of the feeding-trough should 
be low. High feeding-troughs or mangers are undesirable, 
as they do not afford an unrestricted circulation of air at the 
animal's head. 

The principal advantage claimed by those who prefer the 
cows facing the windows, is that they get fresher air in this 
position. Any stable, however, of 36 ft. to 40 ft. in width 
can be ventilated so that the air in the center will be just as 
fresh as the air at the outside. Very few stables have been 
built in America of greater width than that required for two 



34 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

rows of cows, and such stables are not to be tolerated, for 
the very reason that the building becomes so wide that it is 
impossible to ventilate it at the center. Such a structure too 
is usually so full of posts, girders and the framing necessary 
for the center skylights, that it is out of the question ever to 
keep it in the condition of cleanliness demanded by modern 
milk methods. It is practicable to extend the 36-ft. barn in 
length, so that one building may contain a hundred, or even 
two hundred cows, but this is desirable only in the large herds 
of four, five or six hundred animals. It is generally better 
to make the unit a smaller one and not to have more than 
fifty or sixty cows in one building. Nor is it ever well to 
have more than twenty cows in a row, without a passageway 
between them, and there are herdsmen who have felt that 
even this is too great a number. But if we consider that the 
work in the cow barn is always down the length of the stable 
and not across the width of it, we shall conclude that a 3-ft. 
passageway between every twenty or twenty-five cows is 
quite sufficient. 

A certain advantage was thought to be gained by making a 
wide passageway through the width of the stable so that a 
wagonload of green fodder could be driven into the building 
and unloaded in the central passageway between the cows. 
The advantage, however, of the arrangement is questionable, 
since the position of the manure track, as it hangs from the 
ceiling, necessitates a low load, and in any case the driving 
in of horses causes commotion, which is objectionable and on 
every ground to be avoided. This feature, although incor- 
porated in the design of several buildings erected under the 
author's supervision, has never been used, the farmer seeming 
to prefer to unload his fresh fodder upon a concrete platform 



THE COW BARN 



35 



at the end of the stable, where it is easily pushed down the 
central passageway rather than carried upon a wagon right 
into the building. 

COW STALLS. — In the past six or eight years various 
methods of fastening cattle have been devised, from the san- 
itary as well as the humane standpoint, but practice and expe- 



fO« MJLKJNG CCHO AHD Vft 5TOCA 




ELEVATION LOOKING TOWARD TRCNT 



TWUT M.ADA 



At-'. 6T*nCmion3 SET trr fXi* 
Mt*WAlMENf- THIS Bt&UlXTtS 
TWt ME.IOMT Of TOP ftAIL." 
HANI] SUNCHON IN 'RAME 
TO Bt 6v»i MtlOKT (SCORRLCT 
CtrCWt DOlNQ ANY CONCktllNO 




CROSS SECTION 

FIG. 7— DETAIL OF COW STALLS AND STANCHIONS. 
FACING PAGE 32 



SEE ALSO PHOTOGRAPH 



rienee have proved beyond doubt that the steel stanchion, 
shown in Fig. 7, is the most sanitary way of fastening and is 
entirely humane. All the other methods are much less satis- 
factory and we shall discuss only one. Fastening the cow 
with a tie is sometimes adopted in order to give the animal 



36 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

greater liberty ; this requires chains on the stalls and a collar 
on the cow, both of which are hard to keep clean. In order 
to fasten the cow with the tie, the herdsman has to reach over 
the animal to make one side fast. His eyes and face are al- 
ways in danger from her horns and when the cattle have been 
out in the rain his clothes become saturated with water before 
his task of tying them is completed. The liberty of the ani- 
mal fastened with a tie, while a little greater, is such as to 
give her too much freedom. With the stanchions, the cow 
is kept more in place in the stall, so that the manure drops 
into the gutter. It is very important for the cleanliness of 
the herd to keep all the droppings in the gutters and away 
from the stall floors, lest the cow lie down in her own manure 
and foul herself. This the stanchion, more rigid than the tie, 
largely prevents, and cattle soon become accustomed to the 
stanchion and are entirely comfortable in it. An illustration 
facing this page shows pipe stall partitions arranged for the 
tie. 

To hold the stanchions a pipe stall is the ideal arrange- 
ment; it is sanitary, sightly, and gives excellent ventilation, 
though care must be used in its construction to avoid all 
unnecessary bolts and dust-catching crevices, for these 
require constant cleaning. The pipe partition between the 
cows has always been considered almost necessary in or- 
der to prevent one cow from stepping on another, but in 
several stables these have been omitted by owners who 
felt that this theory would not be proved in practice. 
In some instances it has been and in others not. While 
the animal is injured less by the proximity of her neighbor 
than would be supposed, yet such injuries do occur, and 
though the partition pipes may be omitted for the Grade herd 




A RULE YARD FEXCE OF TWO-INCH TYPE 




HH H 



BULI, EXERCISER. SKYEAXDS FARM, STERLIXGTOX, X. Y. 



THE COW BARN 37 

they certainly should not be omitted in the housing of cattle 
which are at all valuable. 

The distance in width from stall to stall is 3 ft., 6 in. for 
average cows; 3 ft. for young stock, and where special room 
is required for oxen or cattle of unusual size the stalls may 
be made 3 ft., 8 in. in width, but this is seldom necessary. 
For the mature animal the stall floor should measure from 4 
ft., 6 in. to 5 ft. in length, and from 4 ft. to 4 ft., 6 in. for 
young stock. For Jerseys and Guernseys the stall length is 
4 ft., 6 in. to 4 ft., 8 in., and for Holsteins 4 ft., 8 in. to 5 ft., 
the length being the distance from the edge of the gutter to 
the stall side of the concrete ridge below the stanchion which 
separates the stall from the feeding-trough (Fig. 7). It 
is always advisable in a long row of stalls to have them 4 ft., 
6 in. in length at one end of the row and 4 ft., 8 in. or 4 ft., 
9 in. at the other, slanting the gutter and giving stalls of 
varying lengths where animals of different sizes or of indi- 
vidual habits may be accommodated. This slanting of the 
gutter is especially desirable for the young stock, where the 
stalls may vary in length from 4 ft. to 4 ft., 6 in., and a gutter 
so slanted may be noticed on the plan of the young stock barn 
in Fig. 3. 

The stall floors must be of some sanitary material, and con- 
crete has been generally used, but this has the objection of 
being cold in winter. It is possible to cover the concrete stall 
floors with temporary wooden ones which can be removed in 
summer ; though the wooden floors need attention and become 
foul without it. Wood blocks, creosoted, are good, and while 
these are much warmer than concrete, they are not so sanitary, 
as they become absorbent in time. Cork brick, at the time 
of writing, have been upon the market two years or more, 



38 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

and these ought to be, by all appearances, the most satisfac- 
tory material for the stall floor yet devised. They are warm, 
not nearly so hard as concrete, practically non-absorbent, and 
seem to wear well. They should be laid in cement, not in tar 
or asphalt, and, to facilitate drainage, with the long joints 
down the stall and not across it. These brick if laid in tar 
are objectionable, as the heat from the cow lying on them is 
sufficient to melt the tar and cause it to stick to the hair of 
the animal. In the concrete stall and underneath it it is 
usual, but practically useless, to waterproof the concrete 
where the animal stands. This is done as an insulation 
against cold and dampness which might strike through the 
floor of the stall. An insulation of tar and tar paper will 
not keep out cold. It will keep out dampness, but no cow 
barn should ever be built on ground so damp that concrete 
floors have to be waterproofed in order to be dry. In the 
stall the insulation of the concrete floor against cold is abso- 
lutely essential for the comfort of the animal, but this insula- 
tion should be had above the concrete floor and not below it. 
Much better than the usual waterproofing underneath the 
stall is to reenforce the floor slab at this point and excavate a 
foot or so of the earth beneath it. This keeps the floor en- 
tirely above the ground and is infinitely better in assuring 
dryness than any waterproofing. In fact, by extending the 
foundations of the gutters and troughs as shown in Fig. 5, 
and reenforcing the concrete, the entire floor throughout the 
stable may be raised above ground. This construction costs 
very little more than the usual method of laying the floor 
directly upon the earth, and is greatly to be desired. 

The stall floor should pitch iy 2 in. in its length from the 
stanchion back to the gutter, and there is nothing in the su- 






THE COW BARN 



39 



perstition that this slant of the stall floor is uncomfortable or 
unhealthy for the cattle, causing them to abort or to other- 
wise injure themselves. A li/>-in. pitch to the stall floor is 
necessary for quick drainage. At the side of the outside 
stalls, i. e., the end stalls adjoining the passageway, there 
should be a ridge of concrete, 5 in. or 6 in. high, to hold the 
bedding within the stall and also to prevent the water in 
hosing down from wetting it. (Fig. 13.) 

CALF PENS. — The smallest dimension of the calf or 
calving pen is 8 ft. wide by 11 ft. in length. It may be made 




»-»■ 



a'-o' en MOM. 



X* 



WOOD PIN3 



i_B 



PARTITION 



.a'CHIUJUEl 



FIG. 8— DETAIL OF MOVABLE CALF PEN PARTITION 

larger if convenient to do so, but not smaller, as a cow needs 
this amount of space to calve in. This size pen may be sub- 
divided by a movable partition (Fig. 8) when it is desired 
to keep two calves in the one pen. The calf pen partitions 
are usually made of solid concrete 3 ft., 8 in. high, and where 
solid should be kept as low as this so that the animal within 
may get as much air as possible. Occasionally a particularly 
agile cow will jump over a 3 ft., 8 in. partition and start to 
leave the confines of her habitation for the freedom of the 



40 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



pasture. This happens so seldom, however, that a partition 
3 ft., 8 in. high is sufficient. The doors are usually of iron, 
and when solid a space underneath should be left for ventila- 
tion, while upon the floor at the opening, a ridge of concrete 



PLAN AND -ELL VAT ION J" OP CALF PLNJ" 




CURB CT G6TEWAY 



ELEVATION OP PENS 
FIG. 9— DETAIL OP CALF PENS 



SECTION SHOWING T« 
OWNING >T III BlUTW 



should be formed to prevent the water used in hosing down 
the passageway from wetting the bedding, and also to hold 
the bedding within the stall. What seems a better partition 
is the type shown in Fig. 9 — a concrete wall 3 ft. high, with 
a pipe 12 in. above it. This allows better ventilation. The 
wooden slatted partition is good but it is hard to keep clean, 



THE COW BARN 41 

and the calf pen enclosure is one that needs constant attention 
in regard to cleanliness. The floors are always of concrete, 
but here, as in the cow stall, the cork brick may be used to 
advantage. In sandy soils the concrete floors may be omitted 
entirely, though the sand is absorbent and needs to be removed 
much oftener than is usual. It is better on the whole for the 
cow to have her calf in a stall with a concrete floor, which 
can be well hosed down and easily disinfected. The calf pens 
should always have a sheltered exposure, and in large plans 
where many young stock are to be provided for, nothing is 
better than to give them Dutch doors into little yards or runs 
of their own. A separate yard for young stock is always 
an advantage. 

BULL PENS.— The bull is better kept with the rest of the 
cattle than by himself, for he is always better natured and 
more tractable when he can see the other animals. His pen, 
usually with a post in the center, should not be smaller than 
12x14 ft., and if this is made 14x14 ft. the square pen has an 
advantage. It is always well to give the bull a yard and 
arrange his quarters so that he may go in or out as he pleases. 
He appreciates the privilege of the latchkey. The partitions 
of his pen, always solid, and the more substantial the better, 
are best increased a foot over the 3 ft., 8 in. height, and this 
can be done by putting a 2 in. pipe rail on top, for to raise the 
solid partition to that height would shut out too much air. 

The bull's yard may be at a distance from his quarters; if 
so it is well to give him a shelter there. An exercising pole 
(Plate facing page 17) is sometimes an advantage, especially 
when he does not brim over with geniality. Secured to this, 
he may exercise and still have a tincture of confinement in his 
liberty, frequently appreciated by the man who takes care of 



42 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

him. The Plate facing page 41 shows the bull's enclosure 
formed of 2-in. pipe — an excellent enclosure on account of its 
ventilation, and while it offers effective confinement it does 
not obscure the visitor's view of its occupant. 

WATERING- AND FEEDING-TROUGHS.— The old- 
fashioned way was to feed the cows in their mangers and to 
let them drink from buckets. About fifteen years ago there 
came into the market a separate watering-trough, put on or 
near the stanchions and controlled by a central leveling tank. 
This device for watering the cows takes away from the fresh- 
ness of the water, while the troughs themselves, hard to keep 
clean, were invariably filled with the dust and dirt of the 
stable, but the object of this trough was to give each animal 
a separate watering device and to keep water which has been 
contaminated by the saliva of one animal from being used 
by another. This object was accomplished. Latterly it has 
been the custom to feed and water the cattle in one contin- 
uous trough running the whole length of a line of cows. This 
process of feeding and watering is convenient, the long trough 
is easy to clean, and its use is general. Still it must be ad- 
mitted that cows so watered are more liable to infection, one 
from the other, than when they eat and drink out of separate 
receptacles. The study of bacteria has demonstrated that the 
secretions from the mouth are alive with germs, and cows in 
particular have mouths that exude quantities of saliva which 
in the natural process of feeding is deposited in many direc- 
tions. In high-grade cattle it is undoubtedly well to take pre- 
caution against possible infection at the feeding-trough, and 
to feed and water in a trough divided into separate compart- 
ments. No doubt this type of trough increases, though not ma- 




CONTINUOUS FEEDING-TROUGH, DIVIDED UY 1!()|)S ONLY 




FEEDIXG-TROUUH DIVIDED INTO COMPARTMENTS 




A FEATURE MAY BE MADE OF THE MANURE TROLLEY, THOUGH 

THIS MAY APPEAR TOO AMBITIOUS IX ITS PRESENT NAKED STATE. 

WHEN COVERED WITH VINES IT WILL BE SATISFACTORY 




MANURE CARRIER AND TROLLEY 



THE COW BARN 



43 



terially, the labor required in keeping it clean; nevertheless, 
for valuable cattle and for careful methods the divided trough 
is to be recommended, and it is not in such general use as it 
should be. This idea of separate feeding and watering may 
be less rigidly carried out by dividing the general feeding 
trough so that two cows eat from the same compartment. If 
this method is used, the outlet is best placed in the center 



z-°- 




Ti l M i l l .1 n zl 



FIG. 10 — FEEDING-TROUGH WITH FRONT EDGE LEVEL 

WITH THE FLOOR SO THAT FEED POSHED OUT MAT 

BE READILY SWEPT BACK 

between the cows, where the water and feed will be drained 
away from each animal. 

For the commercial herd the continuous trough is pre- 
ferred, and to support this preference it is pointed out that 
while cows may infect each other by eating and drinking out 
of the same receptacle, yet it is impossible to keep them from 
infecting each other in various other ways, under usual con- 
ditions and in the natural habits of the animal, such as in 
grazing over the same pasture, in rubbing and scratching 
on the same post or corner, and especially in licking one an- 
other; so that it is hardly worth while to try and avoid one 
means of infection where there are many others which cannot 
be avoided without undue labor and expense. To protect life 



44 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



by stopping the spread of contagious disease is one of the 
great impulses of modern science, and it is pretty well estab- 
lished that modern science demands that the herd be tested 
for tuberculosis every six months, no matter what the type 
of feeding-trough, and any infected cow immediately isolated. 
There are two types of the continuous feeding-trough, one 
(Fig. 10) some two feet in width and nearly level with the 
floor, designed with the object of sweeping back the feed 
which the cows invariably push out in the process of eating; 



avg* 







FIG. 11— FEED TROUGH WITH FRONT EDGE 14 IN. 
ABOVE THE FLOOR SO THAT THE FEED MAY BB RE- 
TAINED WITHIN THE TROUGH 

the other (Fig. 11), 3 ft., 6 in. in width, its front extended 
well above the floor and constructed with a view to retaining 
as much as possible of the feed in the trough. The latter is 
the better both in principle and practice. The cows' feed 
should be kept off the floor and the dust and dirt of the floor 
kept out of the troughs. The study of bovine tuberculosis 
has demonstrated clearly that tuberculosis of the intestines 
is much more prevalent than tuberculosis of the lungs. The 
germs of intestinal tuberculosis are thrown off with the 
manure and are of necessity deposited, not only in the gutters, 
but generally around the yards and entrances to the building. 



THE COW BAR X 45 

No matter how careful the man who works in the stable may 
be in matters of cleanliness, he can hardly help carrying on 
his shoes particles of manure wliich when he walks in the 
central passageway will be deposited there upon the floor. In 
the sweeping back of the feed, pushed out on the floor by the 
cows, particles of manure, minute though they be, are neces- 
sarily swept back with it. These particles may or may not 
be infected with the tubercular bacilli, but certain it is that 
the surest way for a cow to contract intestinal tuberculosis 
is to feed her the germs of that infectious and dread disease. 
It is apparent, therefore, that it is quite as important to raise 
the trough well above the floor to partition it from the pas- 
sageway, as it is to partition it so that the saliva of one animal 
will not be projected on to the food or into the eating place 
of another. 

By using the narrower trough in preference to the wider 
one, it is possible to save three feet in the width of the build- 
ing, but, notwithstanding this reduction in expense, the wide 
trough is well worth what it costs and should be adopted 
without question for the thoroughbred herd. The method 
of draining the troughs, and the plumbing in connection with 
them, will be shown later, when the plumbing of the cow barn 
is described. 

WATER. — On any country estate there is no luxury equal 
to quantities of good water, and this is particularly true with 
reference to the farm barn. Milk is composed of fat, pro- 
teids and sugar to the amount of 15 per cent, and water to 
the amount of 85 per cent., so that good water for the cow 
is absolutely necessary. It is also equally desirable for the 
washing of all dairy utensils, which cannot be properly done 
except in water which is free from sediment and odor. A 



46 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

man should not he content with any water for his cattle which 
he would not use for himself. 

FLOORS AND FLOOR DRAINAGE.— The floors of the 
cow barn should never be of wood, and are invariably of con- 
crete 4 in. thick. It is usual to put the concrete floor down 
in two operations: 3 in. of rough floor mixed in the propor- 
tion of 1 part Portland cement to 3 parts sand to 5 parts 
broken stone or gravel; the finish coat, consisting of 1 part 
cement to V/2 or 2 parts of sand, is then put on the top, and 
it is imperative that this be done within twenty-four hours 
after the rough floor has been laid, otherwise the two layers 
of concrete will not adhere, the rough usage of the stable 
breaking the thin top floor from the under one in a short 
time. It is very important that the floors of the stable be 
first-class in every way, and therefore none but competent 
and special masons in this line should be employed upon them. 
The concrete floors, where the animal walks, are always made 
with a float finish to avoid slipping, and this finish can hardly 
be made too rough at first, as it has a tendency to wear smooth ; 
the gutters, on the other hand, the watering- and feeding- 
troughs and the passageway, where the animal does not walk, 
are troweled smooth, that they may be easily cleaned. In one 
stable (facing page 36) wood floors were laid throughout. 
This was insisted upon by the owner who said that his barns 
were not for milk, but for the breeding and rearing of his 
cattle. While admitting the force of this plea in that special 
case, it nevertheless remains true that for clean milk the 
wooden floor is on no account to be tolerated, whether in barn 
or dairy. 

An important matter in the comfort of the stable is the floor 
drainage, always devised with as few bell traps as possible, 



THE COW BARN 47 

and all floors draining so that the water after hosing down 
will run away and leave the floor to dry quickly. In order to 
do this a pitch of at least 3-16 in. to the foot is necessary, and 
this is a minimum grade ; ^4-in. to the foot is frequently bet- 
ter. It is almost impossible to lay a long run of concrete floor 
at a pitch of Y$ in. to the foot, in such a manner that hollows 
will not be formed, where the water will lie. The concrete is 
also liable to heave a little in certain places, especially when 
laid on filled ground, and any such movement of the floor will 
entirely destroy a grade of % in. to the foot. For short 
runs, however, % in. will do, and for certain places as much 
as y% in. or % in. to the foot in pitch is not objectionable. It 
is better to err on the side of too much pitch rather than too 
little, for there is nothing which shows lack of care on the 
part of the architect more than to have the concrete floors 
retain the water in pools instead of readily conducting it 
away. A drainage plan of the floors should always be pro- 
vided, from which the mason and the plumber both can work. 
As the bell traps are put in before the floors, it is very neces- 
sary that these should be located at exactly the proper levels. 
It is astonishing how frequently the mason and plumber, 
when left to themselves, will place a bell trap at what seems 
the very highest spot in the floor. To overcome the combined 
tendencies of these two gentlemen, it is well to indicate the 
bell trap on the plan, located y* in. or % in. belotv the grade 
of the concrete floor, though even this precaution frequently 
fails. 

It is better to leave the bell trap out of the feed room and 
to drain this room into the cow barn or young stock barn, 
as the case may be. A bell trap in the feed room is very lia- 
ble to be clogged by the feed, but if one is put here it would be 



48 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

well to place it in some out-of-the-way corner rather than in 
the center of the room. 

It is always best, in rows of a dozen cattle or more, to put 
a bell trap in the passageway between the troughs, to drain 
the water away from them. Various schemes have been tried 
with the object of draining the passageways without the bell 
trap, but this creates other difficulties, and it is not desirable 
to drain the central passageway into the feeding-troughs 
themselves. The rear and side passageways drain into the 
gutter, which should not be less than 7 in. deep at the ends 
and not over 9 in. or 10 in. at the center. Some cows, during 
the night, will make 5 in. or 6 in. of manure, so that the gutter 
must be deep enough to prevent them from fouling them- 
selves. It is wholly impossible to make the gutter pitch to 
such an extent that the urine will at all times run out of it. 
The droppings from the cows prevent this, and a pitch of */§ 
in. to the foot or less is sufficient. In the plan of the large 
barn shown in Fig. 49, the gutters have been put in level and 
after cleaning are hosed down and broomed out. The water- 
ing-trough, when of the continuous type, need not drain as 
quickly as is necessary for the floors, and here a pitch of % 
in. or less to the foot will do ; if a little water remains in the 
trough after watering it is of no consequence. The bottom of 
the trough is better if not located below the floor of the stall, 
but either above or on a level with it. There is no trouble in 
getting a good pitch (% in. to the foot) in the gutter and 
trough for ten or twelve cows. In a row of twenty cows the 
pitch must necessarily be made less, but it is better to have a 
less pitch than to try to overcome the difficulty by putting 
another bell trap in the gutter, or a second outlet in the trough. 
Have as much drainage above the floor and as little beneath 



THE COW BARN 



49 



it as possible; the simpler tlie plumbing is kept the better. 
The gutter should be as high on the side toward the pas- 
sageway as it is on the side next to the stall. A low gutter 
at the passageway (Fig. 12) will allow the manure in dropping 
to splash more against the outside walls ; while a higher gut- 
ter here very largely prevents this. 



/PASSAGE. BACK 
OF STALLS 



*- GUTTER 10 



STALL 
FLOOR\ 



FIG. 12— SHOWING GUTTER WITH LOW SIDE 
AT PASSAGEWAY. THIS IS UNDESIRABLE 

The drainage of the floors of the calf pens should never be 
effected by a bell trap in the center of the pens themselves, 
as this invariably gets clogged up, but should drain to the out- 
side of the partitions. Two pens can be arranged to drain 
calf pen can be hosed out without wetting the bedding in the 
into one bell trap, but this should be so contrived that one 
other. A trap outside the calf pens also has some advantage, 
because by its means the drainage can be taken from the 
passageway as well. See Fig. 13. In order to keep the bed- 
ding in the pen and the water in hosing down out of it, it is 
necessary to have a small concrete sill, 4 in. high, at the door of 
the calf pen. 

LIQUID MANURE. — Before referring to the plumbing it 
will be necessary briefly to consider the method of disposing 
of the liquid manure, which makes a more efficient agent than 



50 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



the solid manure for fertilizing purposes. So many differ- 
ent views have been presented for the best method of saving 
the urine, that the system to be chosen will depend largely 







FIG. 13— PLAN SHOWING FLOOR DRAINAGE OF A COW BARN AT GLEN 
COVE, L. I., FOR CLIFFORD V. BROKAW, ESQ. 



upon the preference which each individual has for that partic- 
ular one. 

In large herds, say forty milking cows and upwards, it is 
certainly desirable to collect the liquid manure in a liquid 
manure pit, where it can be pumped out, diluted as is neces- 
sary, and put upon the land. This is especially so in barns 
where little or no bedding is used. In the first rush of en- 



THE COW BARN 



51 



thusiasui for certified milk, the continual washing down of 
the cow barn with, quantities of water was everywhere advo- 
cated. This suggestion was a perfectly natural one from 
the standpoint of milk cleanliness, but it diluted the urine to 
such an extent that it was valueless for manure. To avoid 
this, a special trap for the gutters was designed (Fig. 14.) 
This is a double trap with two outlets, one outlet for connec- 








YTQ. 14 — SPECIAL GUTTER TRAP WITH TWO OUTLETS — ONE TO LIQUID MANURE 
RECEPTACLE, THE OTHER TO THE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM 

tion with a liquid manure pit and the other outlet for connec- 
tion with a general sewage disposal system. The change in 
conducting the gutter liquids either to the liquid manure pit 
or to the general sewage system is made by reversing the 
cover of the trap. This system in a way complicates the 
plumbing; and it seems so difficult to interest the farm as- 
sistant in it that it has for want of intelligent carrying out, 
been to all intents and purposes abandoned. The continual 
flooding of the cow barn with water, helpful as this admittedly 
is in providing ideal conditions for the making of milk, has 
been found not only, as has been stated above, to dilute the 
liquid manure unduly, but to make the stable very damp and 
cold, especially in winter. In several instances which have 
come under the author's personal knowledge, this damp condi- 
tion of the cow barn has resulted disastrously to the health 
of the cows ; who, like human beings, are obliged to stay in- 



52 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

doors more in the winter than at other times. To confine 
an animal such as the cow, which is especially liable to tuber- 
culosis, in a cold damp room, fast within a stanchion where 
all exercise is denied it, would seem to be the very height of 
ignorance and stupidity. When the process of washing down 
is kept within reason — and once a day is sufficient — the double 
trap for the liquid manure is unnecessary, and the water 
from the gutters and troughs may be conducted into the liquid 
manure pit without damaging the value of the manure as a 
fertilizer; but even so it is well to have the water from the 
central passageways diverted into another drainage system 
along with any other water which can be similarly drawn off. 
In computing the capacity of a liquid manure pit, allow from 
400 to 600 gallons per cow. 

In the smaller herd especially, but in the larger one as well, 
the urine may be saved by banking up the bedding around the 
gutter bell trap at night, when most of the urine is made, 
putting plenty of bedding or land plaster in the gutter to ab- 
sorb it. The absorption of the urine by the bedding greatly 
aids in rotting it and the liquid manure cannot be utilized to 
better advantage. In the Briarcliff barn, a structure accom- 
modating 200 cows, the plan of which is shown later, this 
method of saving the urine is used, and some eight hundred 
feet of gutter has but one outlet. The gutters here are level, 
nor could they be otherwise without unduly increasing the 
number of bell traps, and after being cleaned are hosed down 
and broomed out. 

It is never worth while to run the drainage from the cow 
stable into a general manure pit. This idea is an expensive 
one to carry out, and experience has shown that it is entirely 
impracticable. 



THE COW BARN 



53 



PLUMBING. — The plumb ing required for the cow barn 
is simple and has been worked out to a perfectly satisfactory 
solution. All bell traps should be extra heavy and well gal- 
vanized. The ordinary iron trap rusts and very soon becomes 
unsightly. The soil lines from the gutters, within the build- 
ing, should invariably be of extra heavy cast-iron pipe, and 
run directly from the bell traps into an outside catch-basin 
or clean-out pit. Fig. 15 will make this clear. The outlets 




71Q 



20 IRON 
GRADE, COVE.P 
A & 




I 



Ur 



♦•-nut 

UNI 



PIG. 15 — SECTION THROUGH TROUGH, SHOWING SOIL LINE AND CLEAN-OUT PIT 
OR MASON'S TRAP 



in the watering- and feeding-troughs should always be trapped 
and drained into the soil Line from the gutter, in order that the 
line draining the gutter may be continually flushed and 
cleaned by the water from the watering-trough. The outlet 
from the troughs should not be less than 4 in. in diameter, and 
a deep-seated plug is necessary to keep the cows from pushing 
it out ; for this reason it is best located between two animals, 
where it is as far out of their reach as possible. The trap 
should be set near to the outlet plug, so that a man can clean 
it out with his hand. A strainer is an advantage, but even so 
the trap sometimes clogs and must, therefore, be easily 
reached. 



54 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

The leaders to the buildings should never be connected with 
any soil lines, as any stoppage at the end of a leader line will 
cause the water from the roofs to back up and empty itself 
through the nearest bell trap on to the stable floor. The lead- 
ers must always run into a separate system of their own. 

In small stables of six to eight milking cows, the supply 
at the end of the cow trough will answer all purposes of 
hosing down. For comfortable watering of stock this should 
never be less than 2 in., and the hose properly fitted for the 
connection. In larger stables 1-in. outlets for hosing should be 
located in the center of each side of the stable and hose racks 
provided for them. It is not necessary to have a bell trap 
under this, as whatever drip there is can readily run across 
the passageway into the gutter. Except in the cow barn 
proper, all outlets for water should be of the frost-proof 
hydrant variety, which insures against the annoyance of 
frozen pipes, but in our climate the outlets in the cow barn 
need no protection against frost. 

For proper cleaning of the troughs and gutters, boiling 
water is absolutely necessary, so that the cow barn must have 
in it a connection for steam and water. 

VENTILATION.— The subject of ventilation is a trying 
one, for no matter how carefully the architect may plan his 
ventilating system, it is almost impossible to find cattlemen 
who will take the trouble to acquire sufficient knowledge to 
use it intelligently. 

Professor F. H. King, of the University of Wisconsin, has 
for many years worked carefully and conscientiously over 
the problem of ventilating the cow barn, and the methods 
employed to bring fresh air into the quarters for the cow 
have come to be known as the King system. Those who wish 



THE COW BAEN 55 

to go into the matter at greater length cannot do better than 
to read his little work on ventilation, 1 which is written clearly 
and interestingly and with such enthusiasm for the subject 
that the reader lays the book aside feeling as if all the ills 
of humanity could be attributed to the insufficient ventilation 
of our homes, schools and farm buildings. 

The theory of all exhaust systems of ventilation is to take 
the air out at the bottom of the room and let it in at the top. 
This management of the air currents creates a circulation 
absolutely necessary for ventilation. Foul and vitiated air 
falls and remains near the floor, and from here it should be 
removed. The fresh air is let in at the top of the room, 
where the air is the warmest and where the cold outside air 
may be warmed somewhat before it comes into the range of 
the individual. All this is usual practice and is sound theory. 
In rooms which are artificially heated, fresh air may be taken 
in in sufficient quantity always to insure good ventilation 
with a comfortable temperature. The difficulty of these prin- 
ciples applied to the cow barn is that the cattle are usually 
dependent upon the radiation of heat from their bodies for 
warming their apartment ; and that in very cold weather the 
animals vitiate more air with their breath than they warm 
with their bodies. A very positive result of this condition 
is in the condensation on the walls and ceilings, brought about 
by shutting the building up tight, the moisture from the ani- 
mals being turned to water on the cold outside partitions. 
The only way to avoid this is to change the air in the buildings, 
to remove the moist air within and replace it by the drier air 
without. Unfortunately, in very cold weather, enough out- 

i "Ventilation for Dwellings, Rural Schools and Stables," by F. H. King, Madison, 
Wis. Published by the author, 1908. 



56 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

side air to stop condensation will sometimes chill the stable 
and make it too cold. With natural ventilation depending 
largely on the difference in temperature between indoors and 
outdoors, it is not only important that enough heat be gen- 
erated always to keep the temperature within well above that 
without, but that enough heat be generated indoors to have, 
not only good ventilation but warmth as well, and the only 
way to insure such a condition during very cold weather is 
by artificial heat. With artificial heat all difficulties of ven- 
tilation for the cow barn disappear. 

The simplest way, as it is the most efficient way, to get air 
out of the cow barn without opening the doors and windows 
is to erect a duct which will go from the floor straight up 
through the roof (Fig. 16), and the higher above the roof this 
duct is made to run the better it will ventilate. There may 
and should be two outlet ducts when the number of cows re- 
quire it. Twenty or twenty-five cattle can do with one outlet 
duct; more should have two outlet ducts. In Fig. 4, this 
vent 3x3 ft. inside measurement, is located between the milk- 
ing cow barn and the young stock barn, and is made to answer 
for the outlet ventilation of both apartments. Where there 
is no partition, this vent can run down into the center of the 
cow barn and occupy the place of one stall, though this seems 
to sacrifice the sightliness of the stable unnecessarily, how- 
ever desirable a thing it may be in the case of strictly com- 
mercial plants. The large Briarcliff barn, shown later in 
section, was ventilated in this manner. 

This duct, called an outlet duct, should be constructed so 
that it is warm and tight ; it will then act just like a chimney, 
and the higher it is the better it will draw. Its size should 
be figured at the ratio of 4 sq. ft. (2x2 ft. inside measure- 



THE COW BARN 



57 



merits) for twenty cows; ass umin g that the duct is 30 ft. 
high; if lower, this ratio must he increased. The factors 
which operate to force the air upward in the outlet duct are 
mainly two : the difference in temperature between the air in 
the building and the air without ; and the velocity of air cur- 




INLE.T 



FIG. 16 — OUTLET VENT DUCT AT END OF BARN RUNNING FROM FLOOR 
DIRECT THROUGH ROOF 



rents blowing across the top of the outlet duct and inducing 
by aspiration an upward current within it. In a strong wind 
the ventilating system is at its best. With no wind it is at 
its worst, so that judgment of the ventilating equipment must 
be tempered by the wind. To avoid running the outlet duct 



58 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



down into the stable, duets may be placed on each side (Fig. 
17), run up the rake of the roof and connected to a central 
ventilator, the cross-section of which must be equal to the 
sum of the cross-sections of both side ducts. Where this 
system is used, a door the same size as the central vent is placed 




FIG. 17 — OUTLET DUCTS IN SIDE WALLS RUN UP THE BAKE OF THE ROOF INTO 
A CENTRAL VENTILATOR 

in the ceiling and is very useful in cooling the stable, especially 
in the summer. This door should be fitted tight and kept 
closed during the cold weather. 

Another method, and a good one to avoid the unsightliness 
of the outlet duct in the stable, is to arrange in the center 
ventilator a duct which will telescope and can be drawn down 
near the floor at night or at times when such ventilation is 



THE COW BARN 59 

desirable, and pushed up out of the way when the cattle are 
fed. This type of duet is indicated in Fig. 17, and may 
be used with the outlet ducts in the side walls or without them. 

Another type of the outlet vent at the side of the building 
is to continue this up straight like a chimney, the higher the 
better, but it is also necessary to give the cow barn a low, 
preferably a flat roof, so that the air currents round the top 
of the duct may not be interfered with by the roof of the 
building. It is considered that this type of outlet duct gives 
somewhat better results than where the duct is run up the 
rake of the roof into a central ventilator, and this scheme 
adapts itself particularly well for commercial plants. 

Whether the outlet duct be at the side of the barn or run 
down into the interior, it is usual to have two registers in it, 
each one of which is equal, or nearly so, to the size of the duct 
itself — one six inches above the floor, the other six inches 
below the ceiling. For cold weather the lower register is used 
entirely. The upper register is used when the stable is warm 
and to reenforce the draft when necessary. The author has 
ceased to provide the register near the ceiling in cases where 
other ceiling outlets are available. The upper register in the 
outlet vent requires in its use a certain amount of intelligence 
— a quality apt to be conspicuous by its absence in the cow 
barn. The register at the bottom of the outlet duct simplifies 
matters and is usually all that is necessary. 

These registers are best in the form of small doors, made of 
iron, and not of the regular louver type, which are expensive 
and too cumbersome for the farm barn. To make certain of 
the draft up the outlet duct, steam coils, which always increase 
the efficiency of the ventilation system, may be placed here. 

So much for the outlet duct. Professor King's suggestion 



60 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

for allowing the air to come into the building is to arrange a 
series of inlet ducts (Fig. 16) whose combined cross-sections 
must be equal to the cross-sections of the outlet duct or ducts r 
which shall take the air in at the bottom and discharge it at 
the top, some six inches or so below the ceiling level. This 
traps the warm air at the top of the room and makes its es- 
cape impossible except to go downward through the inlet duct 
which it is not likely to do. While the theory of letting air 
into the building through the inlet duct is interesting, it has 
some disadvantages from the point of view of practice. The 
inlet duct in time becomes dusty and is impossible to keep 
clean, simply because it is impossible to clean it. For this 
reason it should always be constructed with smooth sides, 
galvanized iron being the best material. The air can with 
quite as much advantage be let into the building through the 
window, which, falling back in cheeks, will send the current 
of fresh air up toward the ceiling. The air may be sucked 
out on the leeward side of the building more easily through 
the window than it would be through the ducts, so that care 
must be used in regulating them, but no more than would 
have to be exercised in intelligently operating any system of 
ventilation. If the cow barn has artificial heating, the inlet 
ducts may be omitted; if the barn is without artificial heat, 
the ventilation is bettered by the inlet ducts. 

ARTIFICIAL HEAT.— There are differences of opinion 
with regard to artificial heat in the cow barn. The tempera- 
ture of the cow barn need never be over 55 degrees Fahren- 
heit. On very cold nights this degree of temperature cannot 
be maintained in barns whose location is exposed and which 
have not their proper complement of cattle. There never 
was any doubt in the author's mind that properly regulated 



THE COW BAEN 61 

artificial heat is a distinct advantage to the comfort of the cow 
barn. On the other hand, improperly regulated artificial heat 
can become a great disadvantage, and does become so when the 
cow barn is kept at a high temperature from which the cattle 
are removed into the cold outside air. The great advantage 
of artificial heat is seen in the ventilation. It always allows 
the taking in of a greater amount of fresh air without chilling 
the stable. Artificial heat, then, should always mean more 
ventilation — not less. 

MANURE TROLLEY.— The most satisfactory way to re- 
move the manure is by overhead trolley (Plate opposite), 
and the track should be hung two feet back of the gutter, 
which brings the carrier in exactly the right position for con- 
venient transfer of the manure from the gutter to the carrier. 
The carriers are much better and cleaner than the old system 
of the cart ; the wheels of which, if they become f oul, grind the 
dirt into the floor at every revolution. It is possible by the va- 
rious switches to rim the trolley anywhere, and as the switches 
are efficient and do not get out of order, the tracking of the 
manure away from the stable is a distinct advantage. In 
laying out the manure track lines (which are all shown on the 
various plans) it is frequently desirable to take them through 
the feed room. It must not be supposed that this is an un- 
cleanly process, as the manure, once put in the carrier, stays 
there, and the car and contents can pass through the feed 
room without fouling it. It is almost always more direct to 
trolley through the feed room than to go around it and it is 
well to remember that the simplicity in doing the work 
throughout the whole group of farm buildings is the most 
important factor in having it well done. If a barn is to be 
continually clean it must be made easy to keep it so. 



62 MODERN FAEM BUILDINGS 

Another point to consider is that it is never well to take 
the manure from one barn through another. While the horse 
manure and cow manure can be tracked to the same ultimate 
place, the cow manure should not have to go through the horse 
barn to get there, or vice versa. The place for unloading the 
carriers should under no circumstances be near the milking 
cow barn, but as far away as possible. Here the manure can 
be thrown directly from the carriers into the manure spread- 
ers and taken to the fields or emptied into a cart and taken 
daily to a general compost pile or manure pit. All manure 
draws flies ; horse manure breeds them. Absolute cleanliness 
in this regard is important, for the milking barn can have noth- 
ing dirtier in it than the fly. The openings through which the 
manure trolleys pass should never be narrower than 4 ft. and 
the trolley will not run on a track whose curve has a radius 
of less than 3 ft. : this is otherwise a sufficiently flexible ap- 
paratus to offer no difficulties of installation even in the small- 
est building. 

The easy handling of the manure and its prompt removal 
from the cow barn is, perhaps, the most important thing to be 
considered in the plan and in the administration of that build- 
ing. Ordinarily it would seem quite superfluous to say this, 
but milk has been made for so long in unclean surroundings 
that the mind does not revolt at the idea; and man, being a 
creature of habit, falls into bad ones much more readily than 
into good — but never, surely, fell into a worse one than that 
which accepted and tolerated unclean milk conditions. 

BEDDING. — The purpose of this book is to consider the 
requirements of the farm buildings from the standpoint of 
the architect, and the reader is referred to others for infor- 
mation on the various subjects of scientific farming. Among 



THE COW BARN 63 

these, soil nutrition is as much discussed at present in its re- 
lation to plant welfare as the subject of diet is in regard to 
human health and happiness. The usual enrichment of the 
soil is made by manure, and as manure is largely bedding, the 
importance of the latter to manure is considerable. We will 
therefore take up the subject of bedding, just so far as it has 
an effect upon the quality of the milk. There is no doubt that 
the best bedding from the milk standpoint is planer shavings. 
These shavings, especially when made from kiln-dried wood, 
are practically sterilized. They stay in place well upon the 
stall floor, and shavings make the most sightly bedding as they 
are the most sanitary. 

The farmer, on the other hand, who has other things to con- 
sider beside milk production, contends that this bedding does 
not make good manure ; that it takes it longer to rot, and does 
not contain the plant nutrition that is to be found in manure 
which is made from bedding the animals with straw. The 
dairyman replies to the farmer that while the shavings may 
in some instances lack plant nutrition they also lack the seeds 
of weeds which ordinary manure frequently has in great 
quantities ; that shavings are better on heavy soils than they 
are on lighter soils, and on a soil which has a tendency to 
harden during the dry summer months the manure of cattle 
bedded with shavings is better than any other kind of manure. 

At any rate, shavings make the best bedding for the milk, 
though with care chopped straw could be used so that it would 
not injure the milk, especially if taken out of the cow barn 
before milking, as all bedding should be, whether of shavings 
or of straw. 

In large plans it is necessary to provide a bedding bin. In 
the small barn the bedding may be stored in the hay barn ; if 



64 MODERN FAEM BUILDINGS 

straw, a bay is given up to it, and if planer shavings are used 
these come in such a compressed form that very little space 
is required for them ; the bales may be stored in the hay barn 
or stacked up in the feed room, or the shavings may be stored 
loose in bins above the feed room and drawn down through 
chutes. 

SILO. — Ensilage is now used very generally throughout the 
United States, and the silo must always be considered even 
in a small group of farm buildings. In estimating its capacity 
it is usual to figure from twenty to thirty pounds of ensilage 
a day per animal for 250 or 300 days. In large herds, where 
two or more silos are required, it is better to have one silo with 
a larger diameter. The large silo is used in the winter time 
when cows are fed more on ensilage, and the smaller silo dur- 
ing the warmer months when they are fed less. The reason 
for this is that it is better to take off from the top of the 
ensilage at least four inches at each feeding, as there is a 
tendency for the ensilage to become stale if left exposed for 
any length of time; consequently a high silo with a smaller 
diameter is to be preferred. The following table will give 
reliable dimensions as to silo capacities : 



THE COW BARN 



65 



Table of Silo Capacities 







Inside 


Inside 


Estimated 


Diameter 


Height 


Capacity 


in feet 


in feet 


in tons 


8 


20 


20 to 


25 


8 


24 


25 " 


30 


8 


30 


30 " 


35 


10 


20 


30 " 


35 


10 


24 


38 " 


42 


10 


26 


40 " 


46 


10 


30 


45 " 


55 


12 


20 


45 " 


50 


12 


24 


54 " 


60 


12 


26 


58 " 


65 


12 


28 


62 " 


70 


12 


30 


68 " 


75 


14 


24 


70 " 


75 


14 


26 


75 " 


80 


14 


28 


85 " 


90 


14 


30 


90 " 


100 


14 


32 


95 " 


105 


14 


34 


100 " 


110 


14 


36 


105 " 


120 


16 


24 


100 " 


105 


16 


26 


105 " 


110 


16 


28 


110 " 


115 


16 


30 


115 " 


125 


16 


32 


120 " 


130 


16 


34 


130 " 


145 


16 


40 


•170 " 


190 


18 


26 


125 " 


135 


18 


28 


130 " 


140 


18 


30 


135 " 


145 


18 


32 


140 " 


155 


18 


40 


190 " 


220 


20 


24 


150 " 


160 


20 


30 


185 " 


200 


20 


34 


215 " 


230 


22 


30 


230 " 


250 


22 


38 


300 " 


350 


25 


32 


310 " 


340 



66 MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 

The usual silo is the wooden one, and when of wood, cypress 
is the best material, and it is better to buy the silo from a 
manufacturer than undertake to construct one with ordinary 
labor. Concrete silos are entirely satisfactory and are prac- 
tically indestructible. They can be made either round or 
square, but are better round; if square the interior angles 
must be well rounded so that the ensilage will settle evenly and 
will not be retarded in settlement by catching in sharp angles. 
The concrete silo has been made with hollow walls, though 
these have little or no advantage over the solid walls. 

The silo, whether of wood or concrete, should invariably be 
separated from the building by fresh air, as the odors from 
the ensilage are very pungent and are best kept out of the 
cow stable. In all cases it is well to have the passage be- 
tween the silo and the building large enough to contain all 
the implements used in handling the ensilage, as the odor from 
them, if not always strong, is persistent. The silo should un- 
der no consideration be entered directly from the milking cow 
barn ; the entrance should either occur at the feed room or the 
silo be entirely separated from the building, as was done in the 
farm barns at Sterlington, N. Y., for Francis Lynde Stetson, 
Esq. 

Architecturally the silo becomes a difficult problem, for 
while it is certainly typical of the farm, it is a most unman- 
ageable thing to the architect. Perhaps the best way to dis- 
pose of the silo is to place it among the trees, where its rigid 
outlines are softened, but unfortunately such an environment 
is not always available, and while it is possible to enclose the 
silo within a construction that shall partake of the appearance 
of the rest of the buildings, yet to erect one structure in order 
to confine another, seems unarchitectural in the extreme. 



THE COW BARN 



67 



The wooden silo must always be placed upon a masonry 
foundation. (Fig. 18.) The bottom, made of concrete and 
without a bell trap, should extend some four or five feet into 
the foundations ; otherwise if the silo is placed directly on the 
concrete bottom the juices from the ensilage will leak through 



CONCRETE. 
REINFOCCED 



QRADC 



/QR, 




. 3TAV6 3ILO 



DARN TLOOB- 



CEMENT 
PLANTER 

3" -COVE 

4-' CON TLOOR 



fe^ 



■la jToMt 

WALL 



FIG. 18— SECTION THEOUGH SILO FOUNDATION 



the lower doors. By sinking the floor of the silo, the liquids 
will be contained within the foundation walls and this unde- 
sirable but usual condition avoided. 



68 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

With any silo, the architect will have to inclose the doors 
in a chute three feet wide and two feet deep, running from the 
top of the silo and stopping within seven or eight feet from 
the floor. As the ensilage is thrown down the chute it is neces- 
sary to have light and ventilation at both sides and especially 
at the top. Care should be taken that no nails are driven 
through the silo and that no other projections are to be found 
within it ; the interior walls must be perfectly smooth, as it is 
essential to good ensilage that it shall settle and pack evenly, 
and so small a thing as a nail point will arrest this settlement 
and cause the ensilage to spoil at that place. It is best to 
arrange the concrete floor at the entrance to the silo so that it 
will drain into a bell trap which is well removed from the place 
where the ensilage is deposited, for ensilage is composed of so 
many fine particles that it will invariably clog any bell trap in 
which it can accumulate. 

An excellent type of silo is one entirely without doors, a 
huge tank open only at the top ; the bottom going into the earth 
some six or eight feet. The ensilage is hoisted out in buckets 
and a ladder is lowered into the top in order to reach the sur- 
face. This makes a little more climbing, as the entire height 
of the silo must be scaled at every operation, but those who 
have used this type of silo like it and say that the extra work 
is very little, and the annoyance of leaky doors is entirely done 
away with ; also that the ensilage is better and more uniform, 
for any opening which will allow the liquid to leak out, will 
let the air in and the ensilage will spoil at that point. Such 
a silo can be very well constructed of masonry and made square 
if properly reenforced and large coves put in the corners. 

The ensilage may be carried to the feeding-troughs by 
trolley, but it is usual to move it in carts. The various ma- 



THE C0¥ BAKN 69 

chines for filling the silo — the blower and the cutter — have 
been developed to a point at which they are entirely satisfac- 
tory, and it is possible to fill a silo forty feet high without in- 
convenience. 

COW YARD. — A yard in which cattle may exercise is just 
as necessaiy as any of the other accommodations for the farm 
barn which we have been considering. In a measure the ten- 
dency of modern milking is to focus attention on what seems 
necessary for the purity of the milk, and to ignore what is 
beneficial to the health of the cow. She is kept in the stall to 
avoid exercise, for exercise diminishes the milk flow, and 
though the author does not pretend to go into the hygiene of 
cattle, except as it relates to the actual building, he neverthe- 
less wants to protest here against sacrificing the animal for a 
milk record. The herd must have a proper exercising place 
located on high dry ground, and well protected from the cold 
north winds, for the modern method of clipping the cow at all 
seasons of the year and the continual washing necessary for 
cleanliness, makes her more susceptible than otherwise to cli- 
matic changes. 

As the various plans will show, the buildings themselves are 
frequently arranged so that they form a protected and shel- 
tered enclosure in which it is usual to confine the cattle. This 
in the main is a satisfactory solution of the problem, though the 
cow yard adjoining the milking barn is bad from this point of 
view ; for the manure in the yard is soon ground into powder 
and, especially in summer, is liable to be blown into the milking 
barn. The cow yard adjoining the milking barn should, there- 
fore, be kept for winter use only, when this objection is partly 
though not entirely overcome. It is quite feasible to locate 
the exercising yard at a distance from the cow barn, and this 



70 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



arrangement is strongly advised in preference to all others. 
Such a disposition of the cow yard may be seen in the plan of 
the farm buildings at Sterlington, N. Y. (Fig. 41). 

Fig. 19 shows a very practical plan for a small herd of 
twelve cows and two bulls. The various yards are conveniently 




Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 19.— PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS AT FRAMINGHAM, MASS., FOR N. I. BOWDITCH, ESQ. 



disposed, though too near the milking barn for ideal milk con- 
ditions. The owner of this herd, however is not as interested 
in the making of milk as he is in the breeding of his cattle, and 
his buildings were therefore designed with that end in view. 

In the summer, the proper place for cattle, except at feed- 
ing time, is in the pasture, so that the principal need of a 
sheltered yard is in the winter months. It is well, therefore, 
to have the isolated yard protected on three sides by a high 
tight fence, the southerly exposure being left open. In Eng- 



THE COW BAEN 71 

land the covered yard has been very largely adopted, though 
it is not usual in this country, but in cold climates it would 
certainly be desirable to have an exercising place with a roof 
for protection from the snows and rains of the winter. Fig. 
19 shows such a protection in the form of a wide shed at the 
end of the cow yard. The eaves are kept as low as possible 
for shelter, and in the north wall, openings with solid sliding 
shutters are left for ventilation in the warmer months. 

The cow yard must always be kept for the cattle, and should 
be so arranged that the traffic of the farm need never be 
brought into it. Such a yard as is shown in the plan for the 
farm buildings at Oyster Bay, N. Y., for Mortimer L. Schiff, 
Esq., was not intended as a cow yard, and would be useless as 
such, for any season of the year, as the horses are driven 
through it to the sheds and to their own quarters, and there is 
no part of it where the cattle may enjoy undisturbed quiet. 

PAINTING. — For the interior woodwork of the cow barn, 
enamel paint is much the best. White, though it soils quickly, 
is preferable for the simple reason that all dirt may be seen. 
The old idea of choosing colors not to show the dirt is entirely 
wrong in principle. In places that must necessarily be kept 
clean and where it is necessary to know whether or not such 
places are clean, white paint will always give the desired in- 
formation in a definite manner. Nothing looks better, nor is 
better, than to enamel the walls and the ceilings of the milking 
cow barn, and this can be done in a soft cream color and with 
such material that it is possible to wash down the ceiling and 
walls. This is a great advantage. It is better not to paint 
the cement dados, as these frequently want more vigorous 
scrubbing, and the cement plastering, though sometimes un- 
sightly at first, improves in appearance with age and use and 



72 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

really gives the best surface without paint. Where the plas- 
tering and cement dado come together, a green strip is painted, 
which must not be of oil paint, as the cement will discolor it. 
The ironwork for the stalls can be painted in any color desired, 
or, what is better, brightened with aluminum, which is light 
in color and though more easily rubbed off than the paint, is 
more easily renewed and can be kept in better condition with 
less trouble on that account. 

BLINDS AND FLIES.— The fly is the greatest curse to 
the man interested in making good milk ; in fact flies are now 
being considered a general scourge to the whole of mankind, 
but to keep them out of the stable is a problem. Screens are 
entirely inefficient and seem to keep more flies in than they 
keep out. They are useless. The only way to avoid having 
flies in the stable is to keep it clean and dark, and it is, there- 
fore, desirable to fit at all windows the ordinary blinds with 
movable slats. The blinds are hooked in and do not swing, 
as house blinds do, but occupy the same part of the frame as 
the storm sash. See Fig. 22. The sash are removed en- 
tirely, and the blinds can then be easily operated from the in- 
side. The removal of the sash in summer is important, for 
they are only in the way and become fly-specked and dirty, and 
should be taken out and stored until cold weather. The stable 
is then kept dark, except at milking time, when the smallest 
amount of light for proper milking is admitted, but care must 
be taken to hose the blinds down thoroughly, inside and out 
at least once a day, so as to wash off all particles of dust that 
may lodge upon them. A reenforced concrete barn is by all 
flies do not like them. When a concrete building is kept clean 
odds the best to keep out the flies, as the walls are cold and the 
and dark the fly problem is solved. 



THE COW BAKN 



73 



DOORS. — Wherever possible, sliding doors should in- 
variably be used in preference to swing doors. The swing 
door is a nuisance in a stable. In the hay bam the large doors 
may sometimes swing out, but even here the sliding type of 
door is much better. 




SILL 



M 



VERTICAL SECTION 



WOOO JAMS 



CONCOETE 
PLINTH 








T 


r^riD 


"7-,- 


1 








V 




r 


J 




JAM£> 







GLASS 
PANEL 



WOOO 

Panels 



HEAD 



SILL 
SECTIONS OF 
EXTERIOR DOORS 
SWINGING IN 





7 M V-JOINTT SHEATHINQ 
OIIL1 CtNTIB BTILE 

COOSS SECTION OF DOOD AT WOOD PANE.LS 

OTILC MU.HTIW Gli55 

C0O35 SECTION OF DOOR AT GLASS PANELS 



'•Qd w caeTE saddle~.^->iou.e.r auioti 



.. coNcatTt 
:'•• Sill 

LATH *ND 
PLASTEB 
iVi'FUOBING 



SECTION 5 OF 
EXTERIOR 
SLIDING DOOR. 

• \'t t *• ge.' 

Ml i l i i I 113 



3*XV STOP »ljOC.K 
■VV/. ^/ Tl^O ANQLES 

| \~ I-7LA0 scatna 




FIG. 20 — DETAIL OF THE DOOES FOE THE COW BAEN 



74 



MODERN FAEM BUILDINGS 



All doors should be not less than 1% in. thick, framed to- 
gether with tongue and tenon, and pinned. It is well to 
specify that the pins are to slwiv, to ensure that the rails are 
really pinned to the stiles. The moldings in the panels should 
be very slanting, as shown in Fig. 20, so as to avoid all projec- 
tions that will catch the dust, and these moldings look well. 
The inside of all doors should be sheathed smooth. Fig. 20 
shows the method of connection between the wooden jamb and 
the door. It is necessary to have a heavy stop for the sliding 




FIG. 21 — ISOMETRIC VIEW OP CONCRETE BUMPER FOR 
DOORS 

doors, which can be admirably made upon the floor in concrete 
(Fig. 21). This is easily the best way to stop a sliding door, 
and offers an effective resistance. Angle irons screwed on the 
wall are frequently used for a stop, but they are very hard to 
keep in place, as the continual banging of the door will in time 
loosen them, as it will any stop that is applied to the wall; the 
concrete stop on the floor becomes a part of the actual build- 
ing itself. All outside doors are best glazed so that they will 
let in as much light as possible, and inside doors should be 



THE COW BAEN 75 

glazed as well, as it is convenient to see from one compartment 
to another. No door for cattle should be less than 4 ft. in 
width, and a door 6 ft. in width will enable two cows to go 
out at a time, though the single door for the cow stable is the 
usual and generally the better one. The lower half of Dutch 
doors should be 4 ft., 6 in. high for horses, and for cattle 3 ft., 
8 in. is high enough. All Dutch doors should open out and 
be arranged to hook back flat against the building. All door 
frames occurring in rooms with concrete floors should have 
their frames cut off 6 in. from floor and the form of the frame 
carried out in concrete (Fig. 20). Doors are made 7 ft., 6 in. 
high for horses ; 7 ft. is high enough for cows ; and large hay- 
doors are ordinarily made 12 ft. wide and 14 ft. high. They 
are better not larger than 14 ft. in width and 16 ft. in height, 
for they become unmanageable when this size is exceeded, and 
the 12x14 ft. door is sufficient for all but unusual conditions. 
In machinery rooms for the storing of fami machinery, doors 
8 ft. wide by 8 ft. in height are sufficient for all ordinary ap- 
paratus ; where general driving in is required, doors 9 ft. wide 
by 8 ft., 6 in. or 9 ft. high will take any ordinary vehicle. A 
door to take a four-in-hand with man on top must be 11 ft., 6 in. 
in height. The sprinkling-cart and the steam roller vary so in 
height that the dimensions of these doors should be governed 
by individual requirements. 

WINDOWS. — As previously stated, the windows in the 
buildings for animals should be as large and numerous as pos- 
sible, and Fig. 22 shows an excellent type of window that 
may be invariably used. Tins is thoroughly tight, and the sec- 
tion at the sill should be carefully noted. The window sash 
are not hinged, as they fall back in cheeks, and are thus pre- 
vented from coming out entirely. On the other hand, they 



2 ^r 



^ 



5° 



ZSt h-* 






82 






S^f 





.9 -.« ■ 



35/ 



,o-y 



A» j , pp 






o 
u 

ex 

o 



•) 



8s 

IS 



1 1 


i i i i r 


l 


1 






!-l 

-i — 


U 1 










■"_ 




1 1 

UyJ 1 " "■ 













=4 



[76] 




SHOWING THE METHOD OF SLIDING THE HAY Dooit WHEN THIS IS 

LOCATED M. \lt THE RIDGE. THE TWO LOUVERS AT THE EAVES 

ARE AT THE TOP OF THE VENTILATING DUCTS FROM THE ROOT 

CELL \R BELOW 




WINDOWS AS SHOWX BY THE DETAIL IN FIG. 22. FARM BUILDINGS 
FOB CLIFFORD V. BBOKAW, ESQ., GLEX COVE, L. I. 



THE COW BARN 77 

can be taken out at will, and should be in the summertime, 
when the blinds are used instead. The blinds are hooked in 
and remain stationary in the window openings throughout the 
summer months. It is possible to close the building entirely 
by the blinds, and they regulate in a very satisfactory way 
the amount of light and air admitted. In the wintertime it is 
advisable to have storm sash in the cow barns, and these oc- 
cupy the same rabbet as the blinds and are hooked in place 
in the same manner. The windows, as well as the doors, are 
best without trim, and the frames should finish flush with the 
plastering. Even a half-round trim is unsanitary and col- 
lects dust to an amazing degree. 

"Windows in the cow barn should be 3 ft., 8 in. from the floor 
and run up as near to the ceiling as possible. The flanges on 
the cheeks at the side of the window must be arranged so that 
the sash may be easily taken out, and windows which occur in 
calf pens and in horse stalls must always have grills to keep 
the animals from breaking the glass. 

In the dairy the best form is the double-hung window. In 
a way this is not quite so sanitary as the casement which comes 
flush with the wall. The difficulty with the casement window 
is that it is impossible to fasten it conveniently when open, and 
in the dairy rooms, where windows should be numerous, the 
proper swinging of the casement window is frequently ob- 
structed by the piping. Altogether the double-hung window 
is better for the dairy, but it should very rarely be used in 
the farm barn. 

UTENSILS. — The utensils for cleaning the barn and the 
cows — the shovels, brooms, brushes, etc., are best kept on slate 
shelves and hung against the concrete walls of the feed room. 
When they are clean they are not unsightly, but quite the re- 



78 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

verse. A special place has been assigned them in the plan 
shown by Fig. 3, where they are intended to be cleaned as well 
as stored. A cupboard is not the place for them. Iron cup- 
boards with outside ventilation have been tried, but it is im- 
possible to keep any closet which is closed by a door from be- 
coming foul and infected with rubbish. To hang the utensils 
on the walls or place them on slate shelves, and to keep all in 
plain view and where any uncleanliness is detected at once, is 
the only solution of the problem. 

We have now set forth the requirements of the cow barn in 
all their detail and carefully considered them in the light of 
modern sanitary research. Though good milk needs the ac- 
commodations of a dairy for its further care, it must be re- 
membered that the actual quality of the product is established 
at the cow barn, and that milk will never be better than it is 
when it leaves there. As the next step in its production has 
to do with the dairy, we will now proceed to a discussion of 
that building. 



Chapter III 
THE DAIRY 

THE location of the dairy should be such as shall be most 
convenient for the simple and easy handling of the milk 
after it has been drawn from the cow. In large herds of a 
hundred milking cows or more, it is probably better to locate 
the dairy at a distance and take the milk to it either by trolley 
or by cart. It was thought at one time that, for sanitary pur- 
poses, the dairy should be at least 75 ft. distant from the cow 
barn, but this is not so — provided, however, that the cow barn 
is properly designed and cared for. It is much easier to take 
care of milk in the dairy than in the cow barn, and if it were 
necessary to choose between a clean dairy and a clean cow barn, 
it would be preferable to choose the clean cow barn. Here it 
is that milk is most exposed to contamination and here it is 
that most milk is contaminated. Consequently, with a clean 
cow barn — and all the plans and data which have here been 
laboriously compiled are for the sole purpose of having a clean 
cow barn — it is not in the least objectionable to locate the 
dairy adjoining the cow barn, and even to connect it by a roof, 
so long as it is separated by fresh air. Care should be taken, 
however, to keep the dairy roof lines low and to place it so that 
it will shut out as little as possible the air and light from 
the cow barn. The larger the dairy building is, the further it 
should be removed from the quarters of the animals. An 
ideal disposition, if the grade permits, would be to lower the 

79 



80 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



floor of the dairy four or five feet, so that from the level of 
the cow barn floor the milk might be poured directly over the 
cooler in the milk room. 

In planning the dairy and its equipment it is necessary to 
know approximately how much milk is to be taken care of, 
and it is usual to figure ten quarts (or twenty pounds) a day 



COW e>M2M 




O 



'"I MILK EM. 
jj 17* 17' 

oYe.eiliz.eb 



ILK KEC 
ROOM 



LPj » *' '"• £ * 

FIG. 23— DAIRY AT OAKDALE, L. I., FOB F. G. BOUBNE, ESQ. 



per milking cow. This is rather more than the average of 
a Grade herd, and less than the average of a thoroughbred 
herd containing cows of advanced registry, but it is a depend- 
able estimate and can be used at all times. 

In the dairy the care of the milk can be brought about in 
a much more flexible manner than is possible in the cow barn. 
Fairly proper and adequate dairy accommodations may be 
found in a building of two rooms — or even of one. Fig 23 
shows a more generous solution of the requirements of the 



THE DAIKY 81 



dairy building, and we will take this as a typical plan, review- 
ing the smaller building later. This plan provides for a milk 
receiving room, milk room, wash room, storage closet, laundry, 
boiler room, and a toilet room for the men. The method of 
caring for the milk in the dairy may best be explained by de- 
scribing each room and its use separately, and in detail. We 
will take the rooms up in the order mentioned and commence 
with the milk receiving room. 

MILK RECEIVING ROOM.— Here the cans of milk are 
received, and the disposition of this room is such that it is 
possible to pour the milk directly from the milk receiving room 
over the cooler without bringing the cans themselves or hav- 
ing the men who deliver them come into the milk room proper. 
This room is very necessary in large plants, but in smaller ones 
its necessity diminishes, so that in the smallest type of the pri- 
vate dairy there is no objection to bringing the milk in the can 
from the cow stable directly into the milk room. In the 
present plan, Fig. 23, it is expected that the milk will be 
brought in the pail to the milk receiving room, where it will 
be weighed and its record kept. The milk will be poured from 
the pail into a 20-qt. can which will then be taken into the 
milk room by the dairyman, cooled and bottled. The separa- 
tor is located in the milk receiving room, as the skimmed milk 
is generally used as feed and will not be kept in the dairy ; it 
is therefore better that it should not come into the dairy at all. 
It is always better to keep the separator outside of the milk 
room proper, as it is a piece of machinery that in a way is 
difficult to keep clean. In smaller dairies with no milk receiv- 
ing room, the separator is better in the wash room than in the 
milk room. It is important however that the location always 
be such that the separator may be conveniently seen to by the 



82 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

dairyman, who has to give it almost constant supervision 
when in use. 

MILK ROOM. — In the milk room the milk is cooled and 
bottled. It is not our purpose to go into a long bacterial anal- 
ysis of the reasons requiring the cooling of milk ; practical ex- 
perience and scientific research have demonstrated as a fact 
that the sooner milk is cooled after having been drawn from 
the animal the longer it will keep. The reasons for quick 
cooling are briefly these: milk has in it a certain germicide 
property which tends to keep it sterile for the space of one or 
two hours after having been drawn from the cow. Bacteria 
will not develop readily in milk until after this time. By 
cooling milk to a temperature at which bacteria will not grow 
rapidly, 50 degrees Fahrenheit or under, this germicide prop- 
erty in the milk is retained, so that if, in the process of using 
the milk, it should reach a higher degree of temperature, 60 
degrees or 70 degrees, where bacteria commence to grow rap- 
idly, this germicide quality remains effective even at a later 
date, and prevents the growth of bacteria for a short time. 
Quick and adequate cooling, therefore, is always essential. 

Now as to the degree of temperature desirable : probably the 
ideal is 34 degrees to 40 degrees, but this frequently entails 
much expense, and for the smaller dairy is not always feasible. 
If milk is cooled to between 40 and 50 degrees it is entirely 
satisfactory for the private plant, but it must be kept at all 
times below 50 degrees, as in a higher temperature bacterial 
growth commences. With a mechanical refrigerating plant 
it is not a difficult matter to get the milk down to 34 or 35 de- 
grees immediately, but it is also possible to get sufficiently low 
temperatures by much simpler methods. The simplest of 
these is to stand the usual 20-qt. cans in a barrel of ice-water. 




CONCRETE VAT IN WHICH THE TWENTY-QUART CANS ARE PACKED 

IN ICE 




GALVANIZED IRON CAN ARRANGED 
FOR HOLDING ICE-WATER. IT IS 
CONNECTED TO THE WATER SUPPLY, 
AND CRACKED ICE IS PUT IN THE 
HOPPER AT THE SIDE 



THE DAIRY 83 



or pack them in ice (facing p. 82). The milk from the milk- 
er's pail is then poured into them. While the cooling of the 
milk in cans is not as immediately effective as other more ex- 
pensive methods, it is an entirely satisfactory one for small 
herds, where it is essential that their product be taken care of 
by the simplest and most inexpensive process. The time taken 
to lower the temperature of the milk to the desired point by 
this method of cooling may be greatly shortened by stirring 
with a long-handled milk rod, but this must be very carefully 
done, and usually more harm is brought about by stirring to ob- 
tain quicker cooling than would occur if the milk were left to 
cool more slowly by itself. The great point in the care of milk 
is to do just as little to it as possible. The fewer things it 
touches in the process of cooling, the better. It is solely the 
quantity of milk to be cared for which determines the man- 
ner of cooling and makes some methods preferable to others. 

Another variety of this idea is to have the bottle-filling table 
made with high sides, packing the bottles in ice and filling them 
with the warm milk. The bulk of milk being smaller, the 
process of cooling will be quicker and a low degree of tempera- 
ture more easily maintained. Of all the methods of cooling 
readily accomplished, this is perhaps the best, though it is bet- 
ter adapted to the large than to the small plant. 

The usual way of cooling milk is to run it over a milk cooler, 
of which there are several varieties. All are made on the 
same principle : a metal receptacle filled with ice-water, over 
which the milk flows. During the process of cooling, the 
cooler is kept filled with flowing ice-water, which must enter 
at the bottom and flow away at the top. The warm milk 
poured over the cooler at the top runs down and at the bot- 
tom is chilled by the freshest and therefore the coldest ice- 



84 MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 

water, which comes in contact with the cooler at that point. 
While the milk cooler continues in general use and is doubt- 
less desirable under many conditions, it has always seemed to 
the author a utensil which was liable at any time to do quite 
as much harm as good. It is one more thing to keep clean, 
and one more thing, when not clean, to contaminate the milk. 
If milk can be cooled either in the can or in the bottle, and 
the milk cooler eliminated, it is always better in theory and 
frequently better in practice. As before stated, the fewer 
things milk touches, the better. The elimination of every un- 
necessary contact is a point gained. 

Where the cooler is used, ice-water is required and there are 
various plans for collecting it by means of the storage of ice 
in the refrigerator. For instance, large coils of pipe are some- 
times placed in the bottom of the ice chamber, in the hope that 
the ice resting on them will cool the water as it passes through. 
This method only cools the water that has been standing in the 
pipes, and, as soon as circulation commences, ceases to be ef- 
fective. The pipe coil, however, affords a small supply of 
water at a very low temperature which is useful in butter mak- 
ing, and it is not a bad idea to have this coil in the refrigerator 
even when other means are used for milk cooling. 

Another method of obtaining cold water for cooling is to 
place a perforated coil above the ice in the refrigerator, which 
will spray it ; the water will then collect at the bottom of the 
ice chamber and from there it can be run through the cooler. 
Though wasteful of ice, this is an entirely satisfactory way 
of getting water in sufficient quantities at a low temperature. 
Water so cooled can be gotten to 34 degrees, and where ice can 
be obtained at small cost it is by far the simplest and most 
efficient way to get ice-water with which to cool the milk. 



THE DAIRY 85 



Another way and a good one, is to place above the level of 
the cooler a large tank, which may be filled with water and 
ice. This tank, sometimes placed in the milk room itself, is 
better located in the wash room. If this method is used to any 
extent, a separate place for this tank could well be provided at 
some point away from either the dairy room or wash room, but 
where ice may be had conveniently. Ice-water made as just 
described is not as cold as that obtained by spraying the ice, 
but, on the other hand, it is much less extravagant in the use 
of ice. 

In conclusion, we do not wish to involve the cooling of milk 
in an agony of detail and to confuse the mind of the man who 
is choosing between one method and another. Milk when it 
leaves the cow is approximately at 90 degrees ; in the summer, 
by the time it is ready to go over the cooler, it may be 80 de- 
grees. If 30 degrees can be taken out of it, bringing it down 
to 50 degrees when it goes into the refrigerator, in bottles, this 
is all that is really required. Lower temperatures, though 
commendable, are not a necessity. All the suggestions here 
recorded are adequate for cooling milk ; each method will give 
the same degree of temperature if persisted in long enough, 
and, temperature for temperature, one method is probably as 
economical as another. There seems to be in the human mind, 
especially if that mind is interested in an economical admin- 
istration of a farm, a decided inclination to save in the use 
of the commodities which give the extremes of temperature 
— ice and coal. As it happens, good milk requires an abun- 
dance of both heat and cold, an unfortunate fact but one that 
must not be winked at, so that the man who really wishes good 
milk must give himself up to what he will probably feel is 
riotous dissipation in this regard. If he wants to avail him- 



86 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

self of the scientific methods of the modern refrigerating 
plant, then he should employ someone especially qualified to 
carry out this line of work. Where ice can be had at reason- 
able cost, there is no need of a refrigerating plant for milk 
cooling, except in the large commercial establishment. 

The location of the cooler requires some consideration with 
regard to its height above the floor. This should be sufficient 
to allow the bottles to be filled at a convenient level. An il- 
lustration, opposite, shows a satisfactory arrangement for 
the smaller problem. It will be seen that it is generally neces- 
sary to elevate the platform from which the milk is poured 
and the various plans will show this done in various ways. 

Just as surely as it is necessary to cool milk, the proper and 
only way to use and to keep milk is to store it in bottles and 
not in bulk. The best type of bottle is one as free from let- 
tering as possible, and if lettered the letters should be very 
flat for easy cleaning. After the bottle is filled and capped 
with a sterilized paper cap, the neck should be wrapped with 
paper to keep the edge of the bottle from soiling. The caps 
are sometimes parafined, but this is necessary only for com- 
mercial milk. Various fixtures have been devised for filling 
bottles in sets of four, eight and twelve at a time. For the 
purposes of the private plant, however, a small bottle-filler, 
filling four bottles at a time, is all that is necessary. As 
soon as the milk has been bottled and cooled, it should be put 
at once into the refrigerator ; this may open directly into the 
milk room or into the wash room. After the milk is capped 
in the bottle it may be taken anywhere in the dairy without 
fear of contamination. In large plants the refrigerator must 
not open into the milk room, but outside of it, so that ship- 
ment of milk may be made without going into the milk room. 



THE DAIRY 



87 



Fig. 28 shows the plan of a commercial dairy which gives the 
usual and an entirely satisfactory location of the refrigerator. 
The refrigerator, like the silo, is generally best purchased 
from a manufacturer of refrigerators. It is always more at- 
tractive when lined with glass, and should be so lined for the 




2* OF CORK 

SJfcNXF* 5 PLAN- AND' 

px'sss.sic-rioie-or 



PLAN 



Stanley Cunningham, Jr., Architect 
FIG. 24 — DETAIL. OF CONCRETE REFRIGERATOR 



88 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

private dairy. For years the author drew plans for the re- 
frigerators and had them built by the general contractor, but 
it is cheaper and better to get them from those who are spe- 
cialists in that line. Where the buildings are of reenforced 
concrete, or for a co mm ercial plant, there is nothing better 
than a reenforced concrete refrigerator. It is non-absorbent 
and practically indestructible. Fig. 24 shows one in detail 
which proved entirely satisfactory and was incorporated in 
the farm buildings, the plan of which is shown on page 141. 

The butter worker, the churn and the cream ripening vat 
are usually placed in the milk room of the smaller dairy. 

WASH ROOM. — The wash room is for the purpose of 
washing all the utensils, and a very satisfactory sink made of 
galvanized iron (facing page 83) has been developed for this 
work. In the larger dairy building, good sinks of about the 
same design have been made in concrete, but they must be con- 
structed by men competent to do this work, and such men are 
hard to find. The galvanized iron sink is of stock manu- 
facture and answers all purposes for usual conditions. It is 
designed with two large compartments for general washing, 
and over one is placed a steam turbine bottle washer. At one 
end of the sink is a steam jet for washing cans, pails, etc. ; at 
the other is a rinsing jet for rinsing the bottles after washing. 
The bottles are rinsed after placing them in the cases, and the 
jet is arranged to rinse four bottles at a time, the cases holding 
either eight bottles in two groups of four, or twelve bottles in 
three groups of four. As the paper caps used for capping the 
bottles, bits of broken glass, etc., are liable to get into the sink, 
it is better not connected direct to the soil lines as is ordinarily 
done, but to empty into a bell trap which shall not only act 
as the outlet for the waste water of the sink, but take the wash 




THE DA1HY WASH SINK 




PIPE-RACK TABLE— TWO VARIETIES 




HIGH-PRESSURE STERILIZER FILLED WITH DAIRY UTENSILS 
RE \I)Y FOR STERILIZING 




LAUNDRY MACHIXKRY FOR THK DAIRY 



THE DAIRY 89 



on the floor as well. This system of draining the sink is im- 
portant, and entirely prevents the stoppage of the plumbing 
pipes by litter and waste that would otherwise clog them. 

In connection with the work of the dairy, and generally in 
the wash room, it is well to have a pipe rack table, a very use- 
ful, serviceable and sanitary piece of dairy furniture. 

The Babcock tester for determining the percentage of butter 
fat in milk, has come into general use, and indeed is necessary 
for intelligent dairying. This should be located in the wash 
room ; situated, however, so that the exhaust from the turbine 
can go out through the wall, as these machines are made 
cheaply and the exhaust from them must be exceptionally free 
in order that they work well. A slate slab is a good surface 
for it to stand on, and in connection with this a sink near at 
hand is desirable. The large sink will answer if it is reason- 
ably convenient. 

An important matter is the real sterilization of all the 
utensils of the dairy. This is best done by means of the 
high-pressure sterilizer which is large in size and expensive 
in first cost. All the utensils are put in here, the door is 
closed, and the contents are subjected to a steam pressure 
of ten pounds; this gives a temperature of 240 degrees 
Fahrenheit, which is absolutely destructive to all germ life. 
For large dairies and where the best type of service is wanted, 
this is the thing, but in smaller dairies the high-pressure ster- 
ilizer is not absolutely essential, and nearly the same result 
may be obtained by using a steam chest into which the uten- 
sils are put as into the large sterilizer, and here subjected to 
a continuous flow of live steam. Any utensil subjected to 
live steam for twenty minutes is perfectly sterilized, but the 
difficulty of the steam chest, or low-pressure sterilizer, is that 



90 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

in filling it with the various utensils some are liable to get the 
flow of live steam less advantageously than others ; so that its 
work is not so definite in every detail as the larger and 
heavier instrument. While the greater cost of the high- 
pressure sterilizer 1 precludes its use in the smaller dairy, yet 
there is no doubt that it is more efficient than the low-pres- 
sure fixture. Either sterilizer affords a perfect storage 
place for the utensils of the dairy after sterilizing, and these 
should always remain there until the time comes to use them. 
This refers to everything used in the production of milk — 
the milking-stools, milk pails, cans, coolers, milk bottles, etc. 
As subsequent plans will show, the sterilizer — opening at 
each end — has one door in the wash room, the other in the 
milk room. 

In connection with the wash room it is always desirable to 
have a store room for barrels of washing solution, extra bot- 
tles, caps and supplies, and these are best provided for on slate 
shelves. A store room should always have light and ventila- 
tion and need not necessarily open from the wash room; it 
can open from any other room or passageway except the milk 
room, which must always be kept inviolate. 

LAUNDRY. — Any milking which is properly done should 
be done in milking suits, fresh at each milking, and the one- 
piece suit is the best. It is therefore desirable to have a small 
laundry for washing not only the suits themselves, but the 
towels, hand cloths, etc., used in the work of obtaining clean 
milk. The laundry machinery (opposite) is all of stock 
patterns, and these fixtures can be run by a motor, if elec- 
tricity is to be had, or by a small steam engine. All 

1 The price of this sterilizer in the catalogue of The Rutland Mfg. Company is 
$735. There is a discount, however, from this price. 



THE DAIEY 91 



suits, cloths, etc., are rough-dried and need not be ironed. In 
the laundry the same system of drainage should be used 
as that employed for the wash room sink — the wash- 
ing fixtures emptying into a bell trap which serves for 
the floor drainage as well. In the plan shown in Fig. 
23, two wash-basins and lockers have been added in 
the laundry for the men's use preparatory to milking. It 
was formerly the custom to provide a separate wash room for 
the men, but for the establishment we are discussing, the wash- 
ing place for the milkers is very well contained in the laundry. 
In connection with the laundry work there must be provided 
a dryer for drying the suits; this is no more than a closet with 
iron doors and steam coils on each side. Between these the 
rack on which the washed garments are hung is rolled. This 
little room must have outside ventilation with an inlet of fresh 
air at the bottom and an outlet for the warm air at the top. 
The suits and cloths should be left in here until they are re- 
quired for use, just as the utensils for dairying are left in 
the sterilizer. This drying-room may also be used as a steriliz- 
ing-closet for the men 's suits, and a perforated steam pipe in 
addition to the pipes for heating may be installed to advan- 
tage. The closet is filled with steam, and the suits, after wash- 
ing, are sterilized in the same manner as the various utensils 
are sterilized, in the low-pressure sterilizer by a continuous 
flow of live steam. This is carrying things rather farther than 
absolutely necessary, but anyone especially interested in the 
extreme scientific view of milk production can indulge his 
fancy to his advantage by sterilizing the milkers' clothes. Or- 
dinarily, clothes washed clean with soap and hot water an- 
swer every requirement. The best receptacle for the soiled 
suits is a large galvanized iron can with a cover, similar to an 



92 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

ash can, which it is quite proper to keep in the laundry. It 
should stand on legs and care should be taken to keep it clean. 
A similar can is necessary for the washing solution used in 
the wash room. The laundry washing is done with soft soap, 
made up in a receptacle furnished with the laundry fixtures. 

BOILER ROOM: LIVE STEAM.— Even the smallest 
dairy requires live steam properly to clean utensils which have 
been soiled by milk, and it is much better to have a small high- 
pressure steam boiler and subject all utensils to live steam 
than to use hot water. Hot water cannot be used hot enough 
and it does not clean sufficiently. Anyone can prove this state- 
ment if he will sterilize a milk can in the high-pressure steril- 
izer and wash another with hot water, put the covers tightly 
on both and stand them in the sun for six hours. If he will 
then remove the covers he can tell without any scientific anal- 
ysis, other than that made by his nose, which can has been 
sterilized and which has not. In dairies, the general scope 
of which is similar to the one we have been considering, it is 
well to have a fairly good-sized boiler room, that a place may 
be had for a work-bench where a small amount of tinkering 
can be done. The floor of the boiler room is drained by a 
bell trap so placed that the boiler may be blown off over it. 

The location of the water-closet for the men has al- 
ways been a trying problem. To put this off the boiler room, 
as indicated, is to locate it in perhaps the least objectionable 
place. Here it has the advantage of warmth and remoteness 
from everything connected with the milk. To make the iso- 
lation more complete, it has sometimes been planned with an 
outside door only, but this is bad in practice as it makes con- 
stant supervision difficult. A modern fixture which is kept 
scrupulously clean at all times would hardly be objectionable 






THE DAIRY 93 



at any convenient point. On the other hand a dirty fixture 
■would be objectionable at every point. The uncertainty as 
to condition creates the uncertainty as to position, and any- 
one who is able to control the former may readily point out 
the latter. 

We have previously dwelt upon the absolute necessity of 
live steam for the cleaning of the floors, walls and ceilings, and 
of all utensils, not only in the dairy but in the cow barn, and 
for this a very simple and effective fixture has been devised, 




steam 



FIG. 25— McDANIEL'S SUCTION T, 

PROM WHICH COLD WATER, STEAM 

OR HOT WATER MAY BE DRAWN 



the trade name of which is McDaniel's Suction T (Fig. 25). 
This is piped to water and to live steam, so that it is possible 
to get cold water or Live steam or any combination of the two 
from the same jet. Every room in the dairy, the compartment 
of the milking cows and the dry stock barn, should have this 
connection, so that the floors and walls may be hosed down 
with boiling water. It is almost impossible to clean some 
feeds from the feeding-trough without boiling water, and we 
cannot emphasize too strongly the importance of live steam. 
Good dairying cannot be done without it. 

Plans of Dairies 

While the plan of the dairy we have been considering is a 
liberal housing of the dairy apparatus, yet satisfactory milk 



94 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

can be made with simpler accommodations, and we now take 
up briefly a few plans of smaller dairies which have worked 
out well and in which the important features we have referred 
to have been embodied. 
Fig. 26 shows a building containing a milk room, a wash 




Designed 6y Stanley Cunningham, Jr. 

FIG. 26— PLAN OF SMALL DAIRY AT ROSLYN, L. I., FOR BENJAMIN STERN, 

ESQ. 

room and a boiler room. The lavatory for the men is put in 
the passageway to the cow barn, which is made sufficiently 
large to contain a wash-basin and two lockers. As the site 
was constricted, the building being placed in the obtuse angle 
formed by two roads, the refrigerator was located at the milk 
room, so that it could be easily filled from the road. The milk 
in this dairy was cooled from a tank of ice-water put in the 
wash room and piped through the wall into the dairy room. 
The "empties" come back into the wash room through an 
outside entrance at the rear. In this little building no ster- 
ilizing closet was installed. It is possible with care to clean 



THE DAIRY 



95 



very thoroughly the milk bottles and utensils by jets of live 
steam at the wash sink. While this method is better than 
washing with hot water only, it is not so efficient as the low- 
pressure sterilizer, and a soiled utensil cannot be sterilized 
with certainty in this manner. 



cow 

DARN 




PORCH 



FIG. 27— DAIRY AT HARTSDALE, MASS. 

A still simpler type of dairy is shown in Fig. 27. A pas- 
sage was taken off from the feed room in an existing cow 
stable. Here were located three lockers and a wash-basin, the 
latter opposite the window, for a man washing his hands pre- 
paratory to milking must have good light in order to see that 
they are clean. The dairy, as all dairies shown, is separated 
from the cow barn by a passageway. The milk is here taken 
care of in the one room, equipped with a sink, milk cooler, a 



96 



MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 



pipe rack table, separator, churn and butter worker. The 
cooler next to the refrigerator was cooled by water collected 
in the refrigerator. The boiler room is of fair size, with a coal 
bunker sufficient for a season's supply of coal. This dairy 
plan is the simplest solution of the problem, and efficient if 
run on modern methods. 




PIG. 28— PLAN OP DAIRY AT CEDARHURST, L. I. 



Fig. 28 shows a plan of a commercial dairy designed to take 
care of one hundred milking cows. This dairy was located at 
a distance from the farm barn, the milk being sent to it on 
an elevated trolley. This practice was considered advisable 
at that time, but with the improved methods of caring for 
the stable and the increasing proof had on every side that 
stables can be kept clean, the practice of locating the dairy 
away from a milking stable of no more than a hundred cows 
is decreasing. The milk from the barn in 20-qt. cans was 
received in the milk receiving room, the floor of which is 8 ft. 
above the level of the' floor of the milk room. From the milk 
receiving room, the milk is poured either directly over the 
cooler or into the receiving vat for the separator. In this in- 



THE DAIEY 97 



stance the milk is cooled by artificial refrigeration. After 
the milk is bottled and capped, it is placed in the refrigerator, 
from which shipment is made without going into the milk 
room. In large plants, as previously pointed out, it ought 
not to be necessary to go into the milk room for the shipping 
of milk, and in this plan the milk room is isolated so that no 
traffic through it is necessary; in fact no one was allowed in 
the milk room without a sterilized suit and milk cap on, and 
those wishing to see the process of taking care of the milk 
could do so by looking through the large plate glass window in 
the partition between the wash room and the milk room. This 
is a feature always advisable in the large dairy. 

The men's wash room, with shower, basins and lockers, ad- 
joins the laundry, where the suits were washed, sterilized and 
dried, and the toilet located off the men's entrance did not 
prove to be objectionable here. A storage room and office is 
placed at the entrance. This dairy follows out in every par- 
ticular the requirements of certified milk, and can easily pro- 
vide for the quantity of milk which a herd of seventy-five 
or a hundred milking cows would produce. 

BEATING AND VENTILATING OF THE DAIRY.— 
The dairy requires some thought as to its ventilation, es- 
pecially the larger structure. It is well to arrange an outlet 
vent between the milk room and the wash room so that venti- 
lation from both rooms may be had through it. If a scuttle is 
put in the ceiling for ventilation — and it is not advisable — it 
should never be over the bottling-table, but always in one cor- 
ner of the room and as far removed as possible from those 
places where the milk will be exposed. It is advocated by 
some that the fresh air be let in through an inlet duct in the 
side wall, but this does not seem to be any advantage, the duct 



98 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

forming a place where dust will lodge and where it is difficult 
to dislodge it. If such inlet ducts are put in the dairy, it is 
well to have the interior register faces open on hinges, so that 
the ducts, plastered smooth on the inside and drained at the 
bottom, may be thoroughly washed out. Air is better let into 
the building through the window, all windows being screened 
with muslin screens, arranged so that the muslin may be taken 
out and either washed or renewed. The muslin clarifies the 
air coming through it and becomes astonishingly dusty in a 
short time. Ordinarily the dairy needs very little ventila- 
tion and is better without it when the milk is exposed. Be- 
fore using the milk room, it should be filled with live steam, 
which not only acts as a sterilizer, but also precipitates the 
dust. The same sanitary methods of construction should be 
used in the dairy as suggested for the cow barn, and all pro- 
jections and moldings should be eliminated; the walls and 
ceilings plastered in cement, and the floors made of concrete, 
never of wood. 

All the rooms should be heated, though not much heat is re- 
quired in either the wash room or the milk room if the high- 
pressure sterilizer is installed. The best type of radiation is 
the steam coil, which should always be placed on the walls and 
never on the ceiling, for in washing down the dairy rooms the 
water drips from the ceiling coils, which for this reason are 
objectionable. 



Chapter IV 
ADMINISTRATION 

IT seems better to continue here -with the subject of adminis- 
tration while the details of the cow barn and dairy build- 
ing are still fresh in mind ; for in the making of clean milk it 
is the method of doing the work which really counts. Care- 
lessness in this regard will very quickly offset the advantages 
of a well-equipped dairy barn, and, on the other hand, careful 
methods can produce excellent milk from inferior buildings 
and equipment. Even the bacteriologist feels that the num- 
ber of bacteria counted on his microscope plate is an insig- 
nificant matter compared with the general administration of 
a dairy plant. Dr. Rowland G-. Freeman has stated his opin- 
ion as to the importance of controlling the source of the milk 
supply rather than to attempt to determine its character by 
bacteria counts, in these words : 

"It seems to me that while the counts of bacteria are ex- 
ceedingly valuable as an exponent of cleanliness and proper 
handling of milk, they should be used only to prevent careless- 
ness at the dairy and to stimulate better methods and disci- 
pline. The opinion of a milk commission of representative 
men (experts), based on an actual knowledge of the manage- 
ment of the dairy, is of vastly more value to the medical pro- 
fession and to the public than any statement regarding the 
precise number of bacteria in the milk upon any given day or 
days. The most important thing, after all, is such a regime 

99 



100 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

as shall make contamination by pathogenic organisms improb- 
able, and at the same time insure that the milk is produced 
under such conditions of cleanliness that other bacterial con- 
taminations will be reduced to the minimum." 

The author has been sorely tried many times at seeing a 
complete and expensive group of buildings turned over to ig- 
norance and sloth and allowed to become dirty and foul 
through neglect. 

To begin with, we must repeat that in the modern farm 
barn the great contaminator of milk is dust, and that milk is 
primarily infected with bacteria during the process of milking. 
The importance of a cow barn free from dust is so apparent 
that a number of schemes have been tried by which the cows 
were completely cleaned and groomed and then taken to a 
"milking barn," where they were milked, either the entire 
herd at once, or in relays. Nothing was done in the milking 
barn but the milking. Theoretically this is an interesting idea 
and — for nursery milk and the like — ought to be adopted. 
There are, however, very few building problems that are not 
limited by the cost, and the general adoption of this scheme has 
been prevented on that account, though it ought to be more gen- 
erally used, especially for the smaller herd. Fig. 29 shows this 
idea in detail. The milking barn scheme settles the matter of 
bedding very readily, as with this plan the bedding is kept 
away from the milk, and the cleaning of the cows outside the 
room in which they are milked is an advantage. 1 

i Since this was written, the author has learned that some who have tried the idea 
of cleaning the cows in one ham and milking them in another, object to it for this rea- 
son : that moving the cows after cleaning to the milking barn excites them so that they 
will not let down their milk and, consequently, there is a falling off in the milk record. 
If the transfer of the animals is made quietly, there is no reason why the quantity of 
milk should suffer from it. But it does show how necessary it is that the cleaning, 




[101] 



102 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

The feeding, cleaning and milking of the cows in one build- 
ing, causes certain restrictions in the manner and in the time 
of feeding, cleaning, and milking. The farmer's old-fash- 
ioned custom was to milk his cows while they were feeding. 
This is the worst possible way. The modern method is to re- 
move the bedding and to hose down the walls and floors thor- 
oughly; the cows then come into the barn for their cleaning, 
at least one hour before milking, so that the dust arising from 
this operation may have time to settle before the milking is 
begun. Assuming that the time required to groom the cows 
is thirty to forty minutes, twenty to thirty minutes must be al- 
lowed for the settling of the dust preparatory to milking. Not 
until after the last cow has been milked, and the milk taken 
to the dairy, should the herd be fed and bedded. As a usual 
thing, a rather better grade of milk is had at the afternoon 
m il king than in the morning's milking, when the cows have 
been in the stable all night and the stable in consequence is 
less free from dust, although if the same time is allowed in the 
morning as in the afternoon for the settlement of dust after 
cleaning the cattle, there is no reason why the morning's milk 
should not equal the night's. In any event, the practice of 
morning milking before cleaning out the stable is a filthy one, 
and should not be tolerated under any circumstances. The 
cleanliness of the stable and dairy must be established by clean- 
ing with water and the washing away of all infectious particles, 
and not by the use of disinfectants to destroy them. Milk 
possesses a peculiar power to absorb odors, and especially the 

milking, and the tending of the herd should at all times go on gently and quietly. 1 
Yelling, kicking and chasing the animals, invariably done to a greater or less degree by 
the farmer's boy, is not only brutal and unnecessary, but it operates to the owner's dis-' 
tinct disadvantage in decreasing the milk flow. 






ADMINISTRATION 103 

odors of carbolic acid, creoline, lysol, etc., arid a stable prop- 
erly kept does not need chemicals to insure its cleanliness. 

It is usual, in providing help for large herds, to allow an 
average of ten to twelve cows to one milker, who has entire 
charge of grooming and milking them. This is over and above 
the help required in the dairy. In the smaller herd of ten 
cows or thereabouts, it will require a herdsman and a dairyman 
properly to provide for them. One competent man, however, 
can take care of three or four milking cows and their prod- 
uct. 

At the risk of some repetition, we will now give suggestions 
for the proper care of animals at milking time and for a proper 
method of milking. These requirements, at first blush, may 
seem to be impractical, too arduous, or too intricate, all ac- 
cording to the humor or the moderation of mind of the in- 
dividual who scans them. They represent, nevertheless, what 
should be insisted upon by the man with a herd of a dozen 
or more thoroughbred milking cows, who wants his milk pro- 
duced in a thoroughly sanitary manner and is willing to pro- 
vide everything in the way of building and equipment to have 
it so. In the smaller problem, excellent results may be ob- 
tained with simpler means, but real cleanliness, which is the 
direct object of all effort of administration, must be obtained 
by using the essence of these suggestions, perhaps in a modi- 
fied f orm. 

To commence with the cow : the hair on the flanks, the udder 
and adjacent parts, must be kept short by being clipped every 
two or three weeks, as the individual animal may require. 
This is necessary, as short hair harbors less dirt than long hair. 
With short hair the skin is more easily cleaned of dirt and 
dandruff — a particularly offensive thing by which milk is fre- 



104 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

quently contaminated. Before each milking she must be 
well groomed with a good stiff brush, which in turn 
should be kept clean by the liberal use of the curry- 
comb; the latter, however, should not be used to any extent 
on the animal. After this operation she should be rubbed 
off with a fresh sterilized rubbing-cloth. The tail, udder 
and adjacent parts are then carefully washed with warm 
water and washing compound, and then dried; finally a 
fresh damp cloth is passed over the udder in order to allay any 
possible dust which may have settled after the cow has been 
groomed and rubbed off. The dampening of the udder is the 
last operation preceding the milking. To prevent the cows 
switching their tails while being milked, a wire tail-holder has 
been devised and is frequently used. This is not necessary 
and is sometimes undesirable. If the cow's tail has been 
properly cleaned and is kept so, there is no harm in allowing 
her the liberty of using it. While the cows are being cleaned, 
a rope is stretched under all the stanchions to prevent the ani- 
mals from lying down. This is removed after the milking, 
and the accustomed liberty is again allowed. These details 
precede each milking. 

The stables should be cleaned at least an hour before milk- 
ing time. After the stalls and gutters have been hosed down, 
the floor and walls are sprayed with water and the gutters 
sterilized with boiling water. Even in the summer the doors 
and windows are best closed during milking, and the presence 
of feed in the stable should be absolutely forbidden at this 
time. 

The men ought to be provided with two separate suits of 
overalls and to prevent the possible interchange of these they 
are better of different colors — the milking suit of white and 



ADMINISTRATION 105 

the bam suit of brown or blue. The bam suit is worn at all 
times except when the cows are being milked. The men 
should have the barn suits on when the cows are being 
groomed; that is while the currycomb, brush and rubbing- 
cloth are employed. "When this part of the cow's toilet is 
completed, the men go to their wash room, where they take off 
the barn suit and hang it up in a closet, or locker, provided for 
that purpose. They then proceed to the wash room for a 
shower bath, especially necessary when the work has been in 
the field or about the ensilage. The hands must be washed 
very carefully in hot water with castile soap and a good stiff 
nail-brush. After the bath, sterilized suits and caps are put 
on, and with milk stools, pails, cloths and strainers, the men 
go to the barns. The stools should be of galvanized iron, and 
sterilized before each milking. The cloths are for the final 
dampening of the udder and teats. The pails used should be 
the covered pails having an 8-in. or 6-in. opening, and no 
strainer. It is well that all the doors from the barn to the milk 
room, when such a room at the barn is provided, be double- 
swing doors, without knobs or handles, and the man on going 
through must push them open with his elbow, and not with his 
hands ; the hands of the milker must touch nothing which has 
not been rendered sterile from the time he commences milk- 
ing until he has finished. 

The operation of milking should be done carefully, quietly, 
and gently, without jerking or yanking; the hands, under no 
circumstances to be wet. The first stream of milk, usually 
sent into the gutter, is best milked into a cup. The place 
where the bacteria will form, if they form at all, is at the 
opening of the milk duct and the first few streams of milk must 
not be used. If, during the process of milking, anything 



106 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



should get into the pail, the pail and milk must be discarded at 
once and a new one substituted. After each cow has been 
milked, the milker goes to the milk room at the barn, or where 
the contents of his pail can be weighed, the record is entered, 
and the milk poured into a 20-qt. can through a cheesecloth 
strainer ; a fresh strainer being used for each pail of milk when 
the maximum of care is taken, but certainly a fresh strainer 
when any dirt or hair shows on the one in use. Particles of 
dirt left upon the strainer are simply dissolved by the pour- 
ing of warm milk over them. If the milking has been prop- 
erly done the strainer should show no contamination even 
under the test of the bacteriologist. A strainer sufficiently 
contaminated so as to be detected by the naked eye must be 
removed at once. The strainer is, therefore, best arranged so 
as to be easily removed, and in such a way that a fresh one 
may be substituted without inconvenience. When the milker 
pours the milk from his pail into the 20-qt. can, he sets the pail 
on a galvanized iron rack provided for that purpose, and not 
on the floor. He then proceeds to wash his hands and dry 
them on a clean towel ; this he must do before the milking of 
each cow. Ordinarily a 5-f t. roller towel will do for all milk- 
ers, but it must be fresh at each milking. The same pail is 
used by the milker for each one of his allotted number of cows, 
unless, as previously stated, a fly or some dirt — perhaps caused 
by a kicking cow — should get into it, when the pail and con- 
tents must be discarded. It might be interesting to know that 
if a fly were submerged for a few minutes in a cubic centi- 
meter of milk, and the fluid were then examined under the 
microscope, it would not be unusual to have the plate record 
from 100,000 to 1,000,000 bacteria. As before stated, the only 
way to keep flies out of the building is to keep it clean and 



ADMINISTRATION 107 

dark ; the blinds closed, except at milking time, and even then 
opened only wide enough to afford proper light for milking. 
Nothing attracts the flies more than dirt, so that all utensils 
of the cow barn should be kept clean and washed every day as 
regularly and as efficiently as the dairy utensils, although even 
so they should never be kept in the cow barn. 

Everything which the milk touches should be sterilized. 
Everything which the milker touches from the time he dons 
his milking-suit until he has finished milking, should be steril- 
ized. In fact, in the strictest sense the production of certified 
milk becomes a surgical operation, and the surgeon 's antiseptic 
methods must be employed if a sterile product is to be 
obtained. 

Milking Machines 

Although the purpose of this work is to go into those things 
only which influence the construction or plan of the buildings 
and must, therefore, be considered at its inception, yet we will 
touch briefly upon the milking machine and the vacuum 
cleaner, both of which may be operated readily by the same 
power. 

The milking machine has hardly to do with the private plant, 
and it is pretty well established that a good milker is better 
than a good milking machine, if indeed such a thing as the 
latter has yet been devised. The disadvantage with the milk- 
ing machine will always be in the trouble and care which are 
necessary to keep the mechanism clean, and the possibilities 
of its becoming dirty without being easily detected. In un- 
clean surroundings the milking machine may prove an ad- 
vantage, but in the clean barn careful methods of hand milking 
are the best. 



108 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

In some of the strictly commercial herds the milking ma- 
chine has been used for some time and here, where the diffi- 
culties of finding proper help are considerable, it has the ad- 
vantage of requiring less men and, when expertly used, of con- 
suming less time than ordinary methods. At present, it is a 
thing the advantages or disadvantages of which are largely a 
state of mind . To the man keen for all mechanical contriv- 
ances the milking machine will appeal, and through his careful 
and painstaking supervision it will accomplish satisfactory 
results, but it will not accomplish such results without such 
supervision. 

Vacuum Cleaner 

The vacuum cleaner, however, when perfected, ought to be 
a great advantage, as its principle is distinctly the right one — 
that of sucking in and conducting away the dust of cleaning 
instead of stirring it up and depositing over many things the 
dust that has accumulated on a few. The perfection of the 
vacuum cleaner is dependent only upon a proper tool for 
cleaning the animal and a better regulation of the force of the 
vacuum. Ordinarily this is too great and the process of clean- 
ing by a vacuum has been an uncomfortable one for the cattle 
which they very properly resent. It will probably be found 
that some cows will be slow to accept and accustom themselves 
to it, though there is no reason why the young stock should not 
be trained to its use. 

There is no doubt but that in a very short time, the vacuum 
cleaner will come into as general use in the cow barn as it has 
elsewhere. It has already been used to great advantage in the 
com m ercial horse stable, and one superintendent of such an 
establishment, enthusiastic over this method of cleaning his 



ADMINISTRATION 109 

animals, told the author that upon the breaking down of the 
apparatus, his horses were obliged to do without their vacuum 
bath for a fortnight and that as a consequence the difference 
in their condition was noticeable. 



Chapter V 
OTHER BUILDINGS OF THE FARM GROUP 

THERE now remain in the farm barn group other buildings 
still to be considered and the largest of these is the hay 
barn, a very interesting structure for the architect, as it is the 
one which affords him the greatest scope in the way of archi- 
tectural effect. 

The Hay Barn - 

There is no special detail important, except the construc- 
tion which allows the handling of the hay by the hay fork to 
be done in the simplest possible manner. In the farmer's barn 
the framing was carried out with post and tie ; this method, 
while satisfactory structurally, fills the entire interior of the 
barn with beams running in various directions, and makes the 
use of the hay fork difficult if not impossible. To overcome 
this the Western builder devised a framing which corresponds 
somewhat to a scissors truss, standing on one leg, and brings 
the support required for the ridgepole to the side of the struc- 
ture and then directly down to the ground, leaving the space 
from the floor to the tie just below the ridge entirely unob- 
structed. The old and the new way of framing a hay barn 
may be very clearly contrasted in the plates facing p. 111. 
Fig. 30 shows a detail drawing of a truss suitable for hay barns 
ranging from 35 to 45 or 50 ft. in width ; these trusses should 
be placed from 14 to 16 ft. on centers, and where no support- 

110 




THE BEST PLACE FOB Till-: ICE HOUSE IS THE WOODS. SKYLANDS 
FARM, STERLINGTON, \. V. 




THIS METHOD IS BETTER THAN THE USE OF DISINFECTANTS FOR 
CLEANING THE COW BARN 



A "' ¥\ 


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THE FARMER'S AIKTHOD OF FRAMING THE HAY BARN 




HAY BARN FRAMING AS SHOWN IN FIG. 30 



OTHER BUILDINGS 



111 



ing building comes at the ends of the hay barn, trusses should 
be carried down from the purlins to the ground to stiffen the 
ends of the building, as otherwise the hay will be very liable to 
bulge them. Hay bams with a capacity of seventy-five tons 
or over are more easily filled with the hay fork, and the cus- 



•ort - rwo W bolts with 

HEAVY CAST IQCW WASHLRS AT 
IvlftY INTtRSECTiON Of TRUSS 
OTMtB tAON MOAM AS SnOWM 

ROOT PITCH f^'oa ll'-O* 
SWING Lis 

firsmi 




CROSS StCTION PART LONGITUDINAL SECTION 

FIG. 30— DETAIL OF FRAMING FOR HAY BARN 



torn is to drive into the barn at the center of the long side, 
unloading the hay in either direction. By this method the hay 
track is kept within the building. If, as occurs in some in- 
stances, this scheme is not feasible, it is quite practicable to 
fill the hay barn from either one or both ends, in which case 
the hay track is projected through the end of the building some 



112 MODERN PAEM BUILDINGS 

six feet, and a door not smaller than 6 ft. wide and 8 ft. high 
is located just below it. The best way to arrange this door 
to open is to hang it on counter weights and slide it down (plate 
facing page 60) . Where it is arranged to drive into the hay 
barn at the side, it is an advantage to drive right on through ; 
but in some locations, as on a hillside, where the grade will not 
permit this readily, the second door may be omitted and the 
hay wagons, after unloading, back out empty. 

If, being on level ground, the situation of the farm buildings 
with regard to the hay fields is such that the hay will come 
from both sides of the hay barn, then both hay barn doors 
should be of adequate size to admit a wagon loaded with hay 
(12 ft. wide, 14 ft. high) . If, however, all loaded hay can con- 
veniently enter the hay barn from one direction, the entrance 
door must not be less than 14 ft. high, but the opposite door 
can be as low as 8 ft., 6 in. or 9 ft. in height, as the hay wagon 
though coming in loaded will go out empty. It is frequently 
an advantage to keep the door opposite the entrance door low, 
as it is sometimes desirable to use one side of the hay barn 
for sheds, store rooms, or winter box stalls, in which a high 
door could not be conveniently placed. 

In larger plans, where the cows are in a wing at one end 
of the hay barn and the horses or young stock are in a wing 
at the other, access between them can best be had through 
the hay barn under a covered passage. This is no more than 
a rough ceiling supported on posts seven feet above the hay 
barn floor. The covered passage allows the hay to be stored 
above it and in smaller plans the top of the covered passage 
is frequently a good place to put the feed bins. 

The proper ventilation of the hay barn is very necessary; 
the old idea of putting a central ventilator on the roof is fas- 



OTHER BUILDINGS 113 

cinating, but this and nothing else in a large barn is inade- 
quate. Additional ventilation should be placed under the 
eaves, and not only in the sides but at the ends of the build- 
ing as well. All louvers should have galvanized iron nettings 
over them to keep the birds out and batten doors to close them 
in winter. In computing the capacity of the hay barn it is 
usual to allow for each animal two tons of hay per annum, 
and for every ton of loose hay 500 cu. ft. of space. 

If hay is bought, it is best purchased in bales. Baled hay 
takes up approximately one-third the room which loose hay 
does (150 cu. ft. per ton for baled hay as compared with the 
500 cu. ft.), and it is frequently better to build a smaller hay 
barn and pay for baling the hay, even when hay is raised on 
the farm. Hay can be baled at the farm for $1.15 a ton. Hay 
is more manageable in bales and it has the immense advantage 
of greatly reducing the fire risk. Baled hay will not burn, 
while there is scarcely anything more inflammable than hay in 
bulk. The use of baled hay in preference to loose hay is a 
matter which has not received the attention it most certainly 
deserves. 

To procure protection for the cow yard and for the entire 
group of buildings, especially those containing the animals, 
the hay barn is most advantageously placed at the north. 
The natural disposition of the other buildings, as the various 
plans will clearly show, is to locate them to the south of the 
hay barn, the cow barn at one end, with horse stable, sheds, 
etc., at the other. This strict division between the work of 
the herdsman and the horseman must be enforced by the 
architect at every point, for the work of the one should go on 
quite apart and without interference from the work of the 
other. 



114 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

The Farm Stables 

The farm stables should include a general wagon room, 
where the better class of vehicle can be kept; the horse 
stable; a place for harness either in the stable or in a sep- 
arate harness room; and for the farm machinery ample ac- 
commodations in the way of sheds, machinery room and tool 
room. 

WAGON ROOM. — The wagon room is an enclosed room 
for an express wagon, farmer's buggy, or the better class of 
vehicle which requires more protection than is given by a 
shed. It is well to have a chimney in this room so that a stove 
may be set up in the winter. This is the only room in the 
horse department of the farm barn which need be heated. It 
should never be less than 24 ft. in depth, so that an average 
length vehicle can be driven in and unhitched comfortably 
after the door has been closed ; 30 ft. in length is a minimum 
dimension. In larger plans a depth of 26 or 28 ft. is de- 
sirable. In planning for a number of vehicles it is usual to 
allow 7 ft. for the width of each wagon and 11 ft. for length. 
In close placing of many wagons it is possible to get the aver- 
age width down to 6 ft., 6 in. per vehicle, and with a reason- 
able number of smaller traps to 6 ft. per vehicle. There 
should always be a place for the washing of wagons in the 
wagon room, preferably opposite the entrance, and there is 
nothing equal to the overhead washer. The wagon wash can 
be 10 or 12 ft. in width and its length had better be the en- 
tire width of the room. Its pitch to the bell trap should be 
at least *4 in. to the foot. 

HARNESS ROOM.— In the simpler class of stable it is 
quite possible to hang the farm harness in the wagon room, 



OTHER BUILDINGS 115 

but this should be done against the walls and not in cases. A 
movable harness rack may be used to advantage and is always 
useful for cleaning harness. 

"Where over eight or ten horses are provided for, a sep- 
arate harness room is better, but here also the harness should 
be hung against the wall on large, heavy, galvanized iron 
hooks. If a harness room is included it is preferable to have 
the heat in here rather than in the general wagon room. Hot 
water, especially in the winter, is desirable for cleaning the 
harness and is frequently necessary for the proper care of the 
animals. 

HORSE STABLE. — In the horse barn, as in the cow barn, 
all moldings or projections of any kind should be avoided. 
Horses may be arranged in double or single rows. The single 
row of stalls is very much better, as it enables one side of 
the stable to be thrown open to the sun and air. The great 
trouble with the double row of stalls is that it makes a dark 
stable and a very warm one in simunertime, because it is neces- 
sary to keep the windows in front of the horses so high and 
so small that little light or ventilation can be had through 
them. The type of stabling which has a passage in front of 
the stalls, though requiring a larger building, is an excellent 
idea, giving more ventilation and comfort for the animal than 
any other method. It keeps the horses away from the light 
which frequently blinds them. A man with sensitive eyes can 
easily imagine the effect upon them were he tied in a stall 
before a window and in such a manner that he could not 
readily look away from it. This is precisely what happens to 
the horse in the average stall. The windows should, there- 
fore, never be lower than 6 ft. 6 in. from the floor, and it is 
frequently desirable to paint the glass, or shade it by over- 



116 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



hanging eaves. For the summer, nothing is better than the 
blinds put in in the same manner as described for the cow 
barn. This is the best possible method of keeping out the sun 
and letting in the air. 

As in the cow stable, the manure trolley is far the best 
way to get the manure out of the building, and this manure 
trolley can be connected with the same system as the trolley 
for the cow barn. Various plans, which follow, will make 
this connection clear. The ventilation should be carried out 
on the same lines as indicated for the cow barn. It is some- 
times difficult, however, to bring the outlet ventilating ducts 
below the ceiling, and the author in his practice has generally 
been content with taking the air out of the building from the 
ducts which stop at the ceiling, no side system of outlet venti- 
lating being built. The windows (Fig. 31) are all that is re- 
quired to let the air into the building, and these should be of 
the same type as called for in the cow barn, falling back into 
cheeks, with grills. Horses need less warmth in winter than 
cows, and it is a good thing to let the ceiling of the horse stable 
run up the rafters, raising the collar beams, and giving the 
horse stable a cubage or volume of from 1000 to 1500 cu. ft. of 
air per animal. The materials best used for the horse stable 
are those already suggested for the cow barn. Plastering is 
always to be preferred to wood sheathing; the stable floors 
should be made of concrete — never of wood; the stall posts 
and grills of iron. Care must be taken to have the floors drain 
properly, so that the water in hosing down will run off quickly 
into the gutters. The gutters should be shallow and their 
corners rounded, exactly the reverse of the cow stall gutter, 
and, above all, open. The covered gutter is hard to keep clean 
and consequently is generally dirty. The open gutter is the 



WIND0W3 IN HOR5E 5TALL5 



* M i ui!WJWi -i iiyi »w ^nW 




PLASTER TO 
FINISH FLUSH 
WITH FRAME. 

AND PLA5TE.Bp5C 

l"x.i'FURRIN<V 



METAL CHEEK. 



METAL LATH 



2.V.6* STUDS 1 
2.4." O. C 



SHEATH INS 
PAPER 
SHINGLES 




CROSS SECTION AT JAMB 



12 3 4 5 6* IZ" 

!■■■' I I I I I I i i i i I 



FIG. 31 — DETAIL OF "BURNETT" WINDOWS FOB HOESE 
STALLS 

[117] 



J 



118 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

only type to use for the farm barn. It should not be over 4 
in. deep at the bell trap, the deepest point, and a pitch of % 
in. to the foot is ample. It is not possible to pitch any open 
gutter sufficiently to have it drain, unless it is free from ma- 
nure. The passageway back of the stalls is best marked off in 
8-in. squares, which prevent the horses from slipping and are 
not as hard to keep clean as would appear. A drinking- 
trough, either in the stable or near it, is desirable. 

STALLS. — The simplest possible stall partition is shown in 
the plate facing page 110, which is merely a pole. This type 
of stall is very generally used throughout England, but it 
seems impossible to introduce it in this country. It is the best 
solution of the stall partition, as it allows the stalls to be made 
up easily and permits of almost unobstructed air circulation. 
Where the rigid stall division is put in there is nothing to equal 
the ventilating type of stall (Fig. 32) which has the partition 
planks separated by iron spools so that the air can pass be- 
tween them. With the growing interest in concrete, stall par- 
titions have been made solid in that material ; while they look, 
and perhaps are, sanitary, they shut off all circulation of air 
and in the summer are intolerable. The stalls are usually 9 
ft. in depth, though a shallower stall of 7 ft. answers all re- 
quirements and shows more of the horse. Stalls can vary 
from 4 ft. to 6 ft. in width, 5 ft. being the average, and there is 
nothing in the superstition that a horse will cast himself in a 
stall which is between 4 ft. and 5 ft. wide. Where a few horses 
are to be provided for, there is no stall equal to the one 6 ft. in 
width. In this the horse may be turned around and led out, 
which prevents him from kicking out the bedding as he does 
in a narrower stall from which he has to be backed out. A 
6-ft. stall is also wide enough to allow cleaning or harness- 




FIG. 32 — DETAIL OP THE "BURNETT" STALL — THE BEST TYPE OP THE KIGID 
STALL PARTITION 

[110] 



120 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

ing the animal in it. Where many stalls are required, it is 
usual to make them 5 ft. in width; the 6-ft. stall unduly in- 
creasing the length of stabling, and in city stables the stalls 
are frequently reduced to 4 ft., 6 in. in width, but on the farm 
acreage the horse should be given more generous accommoda- 
tions. 

A stall is usually provided with two rings, one 3 ft., 6 in. 
above the floor, the other 5 ft. above the floor ; the lower ring 
being used for tying the horse at night so that he can lie 
down, the upper one for the daytime. There are other 
methods of tying, one by means of a rope weighted at the end, 
another to a ring on a vertical traveler. As these give the 
horse a little more liberty, of which some animals like to take 
advantage, it is usually as well to arrange such details to suit 
the man who is going to attend to them. 

Hay is best fed upon the floor, and no hay rack is neces- 
sary; the only fixture in the stall being the manger, and the 
roll rim type is the best. The farm horse usually does well 
on a concrete floor, but where there is a prejudice against 
it the wooden slat floor with an iron pan below is the best type 
of wood floor. The pans should be connected with the water 
system so that they can be flushed out; such stalls do have 
this advantage over the concrete — that the urine drains out 
of them more quickly and the bedding is drier in consequence. 

In every horse stable it is well to have one or more box stalls ; 
not less than 8x12 ft., and 10x12 ft. is better. Where there 
are ten or more horses it is a good idea to have some outdoor 
boxes with dirt floors, in fact all box stalls, whether inside or 
outside, are better with dirt floors. No drainage in these is 
necessary, except that the earth floor will have to be renewed 
occasionally according to the use of the stall. The ideal lo- 



OTHER BUILDINGS 121 

cation for the outside box stall is toward the south, and all 
box stalls should have Dutch doors to secure as much venti- 
lation and sunlight as possible, and in single rows of outdoor 
boxes, Dutch doors on both sides are an advantage. 

FEED BOOM.— A feed room for the horse stable is de- 
sirable. In small stables of three or four horses, where the 
hay is stored in the second story — though not over the ani- 
mals — it is feasible to throw the bedding and the hay on the 
stable floor. It is better, however, to have this come down 
into a feed room, even though a small one, as it keeps the dust 
from the hay out of the stable. It is never well to store the 
hay over the horses, although bedding may be kept here, and 
a little patience in planning will generally discover some place 
for the horse 's fodder where the fumes of his stable will not 
contaminate it. The practice of storing hay above and throw- 
ing it down into the stable through the ventilator is bad; if 
hay has to be kept over the horses it is better to have no com- 
munication between the hay loft above and the stable below. 

SEEDS. — The shed is the place for the storage of all farm 
wagons, carts, extra tongues, shafts, and the various things, 
valueless and valuable, which accumulate in the practice of 
agriculture, and in any farm group, no matter how large, there 
is seldom shed room enough. A farm barn with too much 
shed room has never been designed. The shed should never 
be less than 24 ft. deep ; the supports for the roof are best as 
few and as far apart as possible (plate facing p. 118) and ordi- 
narily it costs but little more to construct a truss for the sup- 
port of the roof than to put in posts in the usual way. Unob- 
structed shed room is greatly to be desired. The shed need not 
be over 9 ft. in height, in fact 8 ft. or 8 ft., 6 in. is usually all 
that is required under average conditions. It is frequently 



122 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

convenient to arrange the shed on sloping ground, where a 
height of 7 ft. may be had at one end and 9 ft. at the other. It 
is inexpensive and often desirable to have a loft over the shed 
for general storage. This is always a dry place and also an ac- 
cessible one. The hay barn can be made high enough to store 
the hay in a second story, leaving the space below for shed 
room, and in small farm groups this is an economical way of 
obtaining such space. This combination of hay barn and shed 
is especially adaptable to a sloping site, where the basement 
of the hay barn is put in the bank and used for the sheds, 
the hay going in above from the higher level. This idea is 
carried out in the plans shown of the farm barns at Oyster 
Bay and Westbury, L. I. In fact the shed provides excellent 
material for the architect, enabling him to spread his build- 
ings out upon the ground and giving to them the long, low, 
sheltering lines which are always effective. 

MACHINERY ROOM AND TOOL ROOM.— In connec- 
tion with the shed and generally at one end of it, a convenient 
place is found for the storage of all the farm machinery. The 
mowing machine, rakes, tedders, etc., are used only for a 
short time during the summer, and when not in use are best 
kept under cover in an enclosed room, for the shed does not 
give them sufficient protection. The doors should be 8 ft. high 
and not less than 8 ft. wide, and for convenience in taking ma- 
chinery out they are best as numerous as possible. The slid- 
ing door is the better type, but if the swing door is used it 
must swing out. 

A concrete floor is desirable, though in a very sandy, dry 
location this may be omitted. Where superlative convenience 
is desired, a concrete floor can be put in the shed itself, though 
this is not at all usual and is almost the height of luxury. It 






OTHER BUILDINGS 123 

is a very decided aid, however, in keeping the shed sightly. 

One more room is desirable and that is a room for the stor- 
age of tools: hoes, rakes, spades, shovels, etc., and is called 
a tool room. This may he a small room, but is convenient for 
general use, and in large establishments a general supply room 
is also necessary, where supplies are kept for distribution un- 
der the control of the superintendent. The tool room needs 
a concrete floor, some shelves — best made of slate — and for the 
shovels, rakes and hoes, plenty of pegs. 

LEADERS. — It is very important that all the roofs of the 
farm group have the water conducted from them by gutters 
and leaders, and that it be not allowed to drop from the roof 
onto the ground. For this would wash out the yards and 
cause the earth around the buildings to be wet, when it is 
especially necessary to have it dry at all times. The leader 
drains may be led into broken stone pits or, where the grade 
permits, on to the ground, but always at a distance from the 
buildings. They should never be connected with the sewer 
system, nor with any drain lines from bell traps, as previously 
advised. In all yards the leaders are connected into cast iron 
pipe, extending 4 ft. above the ground and securely fastened 
to the building, as otherwise they are soon destroyed below 
this point by the cattle rubbing against them. In long sheds, 
where the supporting posts are usually some distance back 
from the eaves, it is unsatisfactory to carry the water from 
the gutters by running the leaders back and down the posts, 
such leaders in time invariably becoming injured or broken. 
These may be entirely done away with by crowning the eaves 
of the roof slightly in the center so that no leaders will be re- 
quired except at the ends. 

HARDWARE.— The most difficult and trying of all the 



124 



ODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



furnishings of the farm barn, in the author's experience at 
least, has been to find proper hardware. Very little of the 
stock .hardware is practicable, and all hinges, bolts and locks 
must be of wrought metal and heavily made. The ordinary 
mortise locks for the large sliding doors are absolutely use- 
less, as is all cast iron hardware, for it is invariably broken 
by rough usage. Swing doors, either single or in pairs, are 




a 




FlG. 33— "RELIABLE' 
DOOR HANGER 



FIG. 34— FLUSH RING AND LOCK 



best opened with the old-fashioned thumb latch. This is a 
very satisfactory fixture. All sliding doors are best arranged 
to fasten by a hook on the inside, and, if necessary to lock 
the door so that it can be opened from the outside, the only 
fastening is the padlock and hasp. The sliding door must 
have a roller on the inside at the striking jamb, and one on 
the outside at the opposite jamb, to work properly. See Fig. 
20. A very good fixture is the Schouler door guide and- 
weather strip, which is weatherproof and keeps the door 
straight and in position but it must be drained at the bottom 
or it is liable to freeze fast in winter. 



OTHER BUILDINGS 125 

The best way to lock up a barn is by an outside swing door, 
which must be properly located and not necessary for the 
animals' use. This door locks in the ordinary manner, either 
with a Yale or mortise lock. All the sliding doors can then 
be fastened from the inside with hooks, and need not be opened 
from the outside. The so-called "Reliable" hanger (Fig. 33), 
is the cheapest as it is the most sanitary hanger for stable 
work. Flush handles, are always necessary on both sides of 
a sliding door, whether the door is locked by a hasp on the out- 
side or by a hook on the inside. These flush handles should 
always be provided to prevent opening the door with the hook 
or the hasp, for the continued opening of the door by either 
is hard to accomplish, and the strain breaks them in time. 
The Dutch doors should have hardware which will enable them 
to hook back flat against the outside wall, and the combination 
strap hinge with a movable butt is the best type of hinge for 
all swing doors. The only stock fixture which is useful is 
the flush ring and lock (Fig. 34), for fastening a swing stall 
door from the inside. For the Dutch door this should be 
placed on the lower half. If it is necessary to open the door 
from the outside a double cup can be had, though this will not 
lock the door; to do this a padlock and hasp are necessary. 
For second-story feed room doors, hay doors and the like, there 
is nothing equal to the old-fashioned swivel bar, hung in the 
center and falling into iron straps at each side, and when this 
is used the doors open in. 

Fig. 35 shows the hardware necessary for the fastening of 
the windows in the cow barn, or in all buildings where the ani- 
mals are housed. The windows not in the animals' quarters 
usually drop back on a chain with a hook on the end. This al- 
lows the sash to be easily removed by unhooking the chain 



126 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



from the eye on the sash. These chains must be unusually 
strong, as the windows are heavy and a gale of wind will fre- 







FIG. 35— WINDOW CHEEKS AND SASH FASTENER 

quently blow them open and break the chain. Sash chain is 
of no use for this, and a chain the weight of the ordinary steel 
dog chain or halter chain is necessary. 




AN EXCELLENT TYPE OF SUED. FARM Bl'ILDINGS FOR P. c;. BOURNE, 
ESQ., OAKDALE, L, I. 




THE TYPE OF STALL USED FOR THE CAVALRY HORSES AT WEST 

POINT 



Chapter YI 
PLANS OP FARM BARNS 

THE views which have been expressed in the foregoing 
chapters concerning the practical requirements of the 
farm barn, can probably best be illustrated by a brief discus- 
sion of the plans of buildings designed with those views in 
mind. The plans given are selected from many buildings built 
during a period of some ten or twelve years, but all will be 
found to be governed by the suggestions presented, though 
some to a greater degree than others. In one or two instances, 
where plans have failed in some particular, these have been 
given if by such illustration a point can be made clearer. 

Farm Barns at Oyster Bat, L. I., N. Y. — Fig. 36 

"We will commence with an example which shows the plan 
of an extended group of buildings in an ideal location on the 
crest of a hill sloping to the south, with woods to the north, 
east and west. The setting is one offering unusual artistic 
possibilities, and to preserve these it was decided that the ap- 
proach should be by an old lane which should go through the 
group, affording service at the rear and thus avoid cutting 
up with roads the attractive sweep of land that leads up to the 
buildings. This complicated the plan somewhat but an en- 
tirely practical result was obtained. 

On the right of the lane was arranged the superintendent's 
house, with rooms for the superintendent on the first floor and 

127 




[128] 





I*; A-^ 




GENERAL VIEW OF THE Til 1 ANY BUILDINGS, WHICH SUFFER 
GREATLY I'KO.M LACK OF PLANTING 




FARM BUILDINGS FOR LOUIS C. TIFFANY, ESQ., OYSTER BAY, L. I. 




I BR r!~ 




EFFECTIVE PLANTING ABOUT THE HOWS FARM BUILDINGS 




Z^&sUKP 



FARM BUILDINGS FOR TRACY DOWS, ESQ., RHINEBECK, N. V 



PLANS OP FARM BARNS 129 

for the men above. It will be noted that the men have their 
separate entrance, and access to their quarters does not entail 
any loss of privacy in the home of the superintendent. A 
porch where the men can sit is provided under the pergola 
above the archway over the road. An octagonal tower was 
incorporated in the scheme to serve for a water tank and also 
for pigeons. The great desirability of entering all the build- 
ings from the back made it necessary to drive between the 
horses' feed room and the horse stable. The manure track 
which goes across this passageway was devised so that it could 
be raised if necessary. The manure from the horses and the 
cows is conducted to the same general disposal place to the 
rear of the hay barn. 

To gain additional height, so that the hay barn would dom- 
inate the group, the storage space for hay was raised to the 
second story, and shed room was obtained underneath; this 
is a very useful method of putting the hay over the shed, for 
it keeps the hay dry, makes a roomy shed, and is economical 
of space — always desirable where the buildings are cramped 
for room. To the left of the shed and between the young 
stock barn and milking cows, is located a root cellar, the floor 
of which is level with the ground. The outside walls were 
formed of three walls of 4-iu. hollow building tile, laid 4 in. 
apart, the 4-in. spaces between the outside walls and the center 
wall being filled with sawdust. The roots have kept perfectly 
here, and there is an advantage in having the root cellar above 
ground, as it avoids the labor of bringing the roots from a 
lower level. The milk is brought across an open passage from 
the cow barn into a milk receiving room, in covered 20-qt. cans, 
where it can be poured either directly over the cooler in the 
milk room or into the separator in the wash room. The en- 



130 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

trance to the dairy is from the north, and convenient to this 
entrance is located a refrigerating machine, which makes ice 
for general use, as well as providing cold storage for dairy 
purposes. The wash room and drying-room for the men have 
been planned as suggested in the chapter on the dairy, and the 
sterilizer between the wash room and milk room, as well as the 
various fixtures for each room, follow out the usual methods 
already described. 

In these buildings was incorporated a sheepfold, as the 
owner wanted to enhance by a flock of sheep the effect of a 
picturesque lawn which slopes from the house down to the 
water of Long Island Sound. Their quarters have been 
placed as far as possible from the buildings, as sheep, being 
timid creatures, do better by themselves. When sheep are to 
be raised in large numbers it is well not to include the sheep- 
fold in the general farm barn plan. 

The design of the buildings was carried out to meet the own- 
er's very decided views as to architectural lines, and it was 
the intention to grow vines over the walls and to contrast with 
the long level top lines varying masses of planting at their 
base. Though the buildings have been built for three or four 
years, none of the planting has been done, which proves in this 
instance what has been established in many others, that the 
planting should be taken up as carefully and methodically as 
the planning of the building. 

Fakm Barns at Rhinebeck, N. Y. — Fig. 37. 

In this plan it will be noticed that the milking cows are be- 
tween the young stock and the feed room, an arrangement that 
did not work out satisfactorily. Another error on the prac- 
tical side is having the horse manure tracked through the 




[131] 






132 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



cow barn; this was changed later by taking the manure out 
at the north, which overcame this objection, but it can be 
easily seen from this plan how undesirable it is to have to 
go through the cow barn to get to the young stock barn. The 
young stock quarters were located to get the benefit of the 
southern exposure, and also in order that they might be heated 
economically from the dairy. While these two considerations 
are an advantage to the young stock barn, and seemed suffi- 
cient reason at the time for carrying out the plan as shown, 
yet they do not offset the disadvantage of having to go through 
the milking cow barn to feed and clean up in the young stock 
barn. 

The dairy, completely surrounded by fresh air, connects con- 
veniently with the cow bam on the one side and the farmer's 
cottage on the other. The plan of putting the dairy so near 
the farmer's cottage is objected to by some who have decided 
notions on sanitary milk production. They argue that any 
contagious disease contracted by an inmate of the house brings 
this contagion entirely too near the source of the milk supply. 
This is good theory and good practice for large commercial 
plants, where the strictest supervision against disease is neces- 
sary and where the help is greater in numbers and scattering 
and transient in character, but for the private estate there is a 
great advantage in having the dairyman live near his work. 

The courtyard, formed by the open sheds, machinery room 
and wagon room, makes a complete enclosure, useful in itself 
and always interesting architecturally. 

Farm Barks at Scarboro, N. Y. — Fig. 38 

Here almost the same general conditions prevail. The re- 
quirements of the owner demanded storage room for hay, a 




DAIRYMAN'S COTTAGE— REST! I I l{i 
PLANTING 




A BEAUTIFUL ENVIRONMENT FOR THE FARM GROUP. FARM BUILD- 
INGS FOR JAMES SPEYER, ESQ., SCARBORO, N. Y. 




DHIXKIXG-TROl'CH IN THE COW YARD 




THE PERGOLA FROM THE SOUTH. FARM BUILDINGS FOR JAME 
SPEYER, ESQ., SCARBORO, N. Y. 




[133] 



134 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



few farm horses, wagons, quarters for the men, cow barn, 
sheep cote, a small dairy and quarters for the dairyman. 
These buildings have been carried out in the so-called half- 
timber style, in order to harmonize with the residence, built 
in that manner, but the vertical timber work has been spar- 
ingly used, and plain stucco walls were left to form a back- 
ground for the planting relied on to give the principal artistic 
effect ; this has thrived so well as to fully justify all expecta- 
tions. There is nothing which enhances the effect of any 
building as proper landscape treatment, and this is especially 
so with the farm barn, whose many angles and corners afford 
effective and protected places for vines and shrubs, and whose 
growth in a few years will many times repay, in pleasure, their 
initial cost. 

This plan was designed before the manure trolley came into 
general use and, consequently, was not so devised as to enable 
this mode of cleaning the stable to be properly installed. The 
scheme is a small one, so far as actual requirements go, and 
under such conditions the scientific methods of making certi- 
fied milk can be less rigidly carried out. The calf pens here 
are shown in the milking barn, as they appear also in some 
other plans for the smaller establishment, but when these 
were designed it was the practice to put the young stock in 
the milking barn so that in winter they might receive the 
warmth of the other animals. For the large plants especially, 
but for smaller ones as well, this is distinctly bad practice, as 
the dust from the calf pens is considerable and should be kept 
out of the milking stable. 

The buildings we are describing have a delightful situation 
on the banks of the Hudson, beneath large trees, and every 
effort was made to have them attractive and interesting from 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 135 



every viewpoint The pergola across the south, and enclosing 
that end of the cow yard, is an effective piece of landscape 
work which nature makes more heautiful each year, as the 
clematis and wistaria grow more and more luxuriant in leaf 
and flower. The covered passage, connecting the farmer's cot- 
tage to the cow bam with its white columns, gives a touch 
of lightness to the whole composition, besides being entirely 
usefid in connecting the farmer's home with his place of work. 
The dairy comes on the other side of an open porch, and con- 
sists of two rooms — the wash room with its red tile floor, and 
the dairy room tiled throughout in white — with the refrigera- 
tor between ; this being filled from the open porch. Adjoin- 
ing the milk room is a tea room, the principal entrance of 
which is from the outside, and it has been attractively fur- 
nished. The frieze and ceiling are made up of old Dutch 
paintings of the farm animals — chickens, pigs, horses, cows, 
guinea-hens, and while this arrangement is by no means scien- 
tific and might excite the ridicule of a bacteriologist who has 
specialized on milk, yet this whole group of buildings is a 
distinct feature of the beautifid estate to which it belongs and 
it affords comfortable and practical housing for the sheep, the 
horses, the cows, and the men who tend them. 

Farm Barxs at Westbury, L. I., N. Y. — Fig. 39, 

These plans again show a similar problem, though a differ- 
ent solution ; the requirements demanding accommodations for 
eight cows, with two calf pens, seven farm horses, and four 
box stalls for riding-horses, together with a tool room, ma- 
chinery room and a dairy, with the quarters for the dairyman 
above. It must be observed that wherever the dairyman's 
quarters are placed in the dairy building they are so arranged 




[136] 





BUILDINGS IN STUCCO with SHINGLE hoofs. some mxilH ors 
SHRUBS WOULD IMPROVE THE PLANTING 




FARM BUILDINGS FOR CHARLES STEELE, ESQ., WESTBURY, L. I. 




INTERESTING GROI l'INC VXD GOOD ROOF I.IXES. RIVED SHINGLES 
FOR WALLS. WITH PORTION OF BUILDINGS OF FIELD STONE. THIS 
PHOTOGRAPH WAS TAKEN BEFORE THE PLANTING WAS STARTED 




FARM BUILDINGS FOR H. F. FISHER, ESQ., GREENWICH, CONN. 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 137 

that separate access is had to them, and in no instance is it 
necessary for the dairyman to go through or even near the 
dairy rooms to get to his home. Nothing is more undesirable 
than to have the dairyman care for the milk and its utensils 
in his kitchen, which is a custom not unusual with the farmer. 
No matter how small the problem, a separate place for milk 
and milk things is absolutely necessary. 

In this plan it will be noted that the manure trolley from 
the cow barn runs on the outside of the building under pro- 
jecting and protecting eaves, and is there conducted into the 
same manure pit that answers for the horse stable. The 
conditions of this estate seemed to demand the construction 
of a manure pit near the farni barn, where the manure from 
the coach stable, not included in this plan, is also deposited. 
As a general rule it is bad practice to put a permanent manure 
pit near enough to the buildings to trolley to it. It makes a 
breeding place for flies and is a thing that has no place near 
the farm buildings. 

The hay barn is here elevated, with the sheds below, an 
arrangement of hay storage and shed room seen in Figs. 36 
and 46. In this problem, however, the difference in the grade 
was such that the hay barn was placed in the bank and filled 
from the higher level, the sheds and the other buildings being 
entered and used from a lower level. The owner wanted to 
incorporate his chickens in the farm barn group, and they 
have been located near the machinery room with runs to the 
south. A woodshed, running to the north, completes the en- 
closure of a yard intended for a general rubbish yard. On 
every country place, and especially on an estate of this char- 
acter, it is necessary to have some sort of enclosure for rub- 
bish, packing-boxes, leaves, barrels, and the multitude of 



138 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



things which accumulate and belong to those vague incum- 
brances that ought to be thrown away or destroyed but never 
are, being saved in the hope that at some future time they may 
prove useful. The yard here shown was designed to provide 
a place for such things, and it is not only screened from the 
rest of the estate but from the farm barns as well. 

Farm Barns at Greenwich, Conn. — Fig. 40. 

These buildings are built on a site sloping to the west, where 
field stone was convenient and plentiful, and it was decided to 
use some stonework in the buildings but to make the main con- 
struction of wood and to cover this with split or rived cypress 
shingles. This combination is always a suitable one, as the 
surface of the shingle is secured by cleaving it from the log in 
the same manner as the stone is plugged and feathered from 
the boulder. In addition to the cow barn and dairy, the plan 
provides four standing-stalls for farm horses and four large 
box stalls for riding-horses, with Dutch doors opening into the 
paddock, to the south. To simplify the plan a separate wing 
was not given to the riding-horses, but these have been in- 
cluded in the farm stable. Above the carriage room are the 
quarters for the men, who have a second-story porch — an in- 
teresting feature in the design of the building and a thought- 
ful addition to the comfort of the quarters for the farm hands. 
Access to the men's room is had directly from the carriage 
room, or from an outside carriage wash through the octagonal 
stone tower. An outside carriage wash is a great advantage 
in the summer months, for on hot days it is much cooler to 
wash the carriages here than in the buildings, especially where 
the back wall of the carriage room is a closed one r as it is in 
this instance. 




IS 





[139] 



140 MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 



In this plan the young stock are separated from the cows. 
The conditions of the site were such that it seemed impracti- 
cable to trolley the horse manure and the cow manure to the 
same place. The grade is low at the back of the buildings, 
so that the manure trolley from the cow and horse barn was 
run directly through the end of the building and emptied into 
carts below. This kept the horse manure and cow manure 
separate, which is sometimes preferred. Underneath the hay 
barn is a large cellar or shed entered from the rear at a lower 
level. 

The dairy is separated from the cow barn in the usual man- 
ner, and the entrance to the cow barn and dairy is through the 
small porch from the roadway. It will be observed that the 
dairy has been pushed to one side, so that access to the cow 
barn is past it and not through it. A garage is incorporated in 
the scheme, and an additional yard for the bull is formed be- 
tween the cow barn, dairy and garage. 

Faem Barns at Sterlington, N. Y. — Fig. 41. 

These buildings are built of reenf orced concrete throughout, 
and are as fireproof and sanitary as it is possible to make them. 
Here again the dairyman lives over his dairy, but both his 
quarters and the dairy are separated from the farm build- 
ings by open air. Fig. 41 gives the plan of the main and orig- 
inal building at the lower level, providing for ten milking 
cows, three calf pens, bull pen, feed room, root cellar and 
the usual rooms for the dairy, including a milk receiving room, 
connected to the cow barn by a covered passage. The require- 
ments of this group increased, so that eventually a young stock 
stable was built to the north, and a silo added, the same track 
being utilized for the manure and the ensilage. A separate 




THE LARGE POSTS Willi KM II LIS VUOVE SUPPORT THE MAN! RE 

TROLLEY 




SHELTER AT NORTH END OF COW YARD. FARM BUILDINGS FOR 
FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON, ESQ., STERLINGTON, N. Y. 




[141] 



142 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

cow yard was continued to the north, which is well protected 
by a high stone wall to the northwest and woods and trees to 
the northeast, but to increase the natural shelter at the north, 
a shed was erected. This separation of the cow yard from 
the immediate vicinity of the milking barn is greatly to be de- 
sired, as has been set forth in a previous paragraph. Noth- 
ing could be more convenient or more desirable than the lo- 
cation of the yard here shown, and such a disposition of the 
exercising place for the cattle must be had if ideal conditions 
at the milking barn are to be obtained. The bull has his sep- 
arate yard beyond, with an exerciser and a shed for inclement 
weather. 

The milk is taken from the cow barn into the milk receiving 
room where, from a raised platform, it is run over either the 
separator or the cooler ; the milk, going in from a higher level, 
is conducted to either by gravity. This platform is also util- 
ized for the ice-water tank which furnishes the cold water for 
the cooler. When the milk is poured over the cooler from 
a similar outside milk receiving room, there should be a glazed 
opening in the partition so that the man on the outside can 
see that the apparatus within is ready to receive the milk. A 
ship's porthole is heavily glazed and does well for this purpose. 
In this dairy the high-pressure sterilizer was installed, a 
laundry and drying-oloset, and everything done to make the 
buildings as sanitary, fireproof, and as nearly perfect as pos- 
sible. 

When it became necessary to increase the quarters for the 
young stock and dry stock and to give up the cow barn to 
milking cows exclusively, it was decided to build the young 
stock stable completely away from the old building, and the 
young stock barn was, therefore, given its present location. It 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 143 

is conveniently placed for the silo and the manure shelter, and 
though in a plan for only ten milking cows this isolation of the 
young stock in an entirely separate building is unusual, yet 
here it has worked out well in every way. 

To the north of the young stock is a woodshed and a room 
for storage — always a useful thing in connection with the f ami 
barn for keeping extra utensils, and especially the storm sash, 
blinds, etc., which during some months in the year are out 
of season and need a proper and accessible storage place. 

Farm Barxs at Isltp, L. I., N. Y. — Fig. 42. 

This shows another variant of the usual conditions obtain- 
ing on the private estate. The plans call for ten milking 
cows, seven dry stock and young stock, and the usual calf 
pens. Here the hay has been stored above the young stock 
and the feed room, and below the latter is a root cellar. As 
before stated, it is frequently convenient to place the hay in 
the second story and, when circumstances make it necessary 
to store it over the animals, it is preferably placed over the 
young stock rather than over the milking cows. In order to 
economize somewhat in the size of the buildings — for the site 
allotted to the farm barns was a little cramped, though a fine 
one — this placing of the hay seemed advisable. The storage 
place, however, was not a general storage but held only a four- 
months ' supply brought from the main hay barn some dis- 
tance away. 

In this plan the bull has been located a little distance from 
the rest of the cattle and his pen, extended in height, is used 
as a dove-cote and clock tower. 

The dairy has been reduced to the simplest possible solu- 
tion of the problem, the owner wishing to carry on his dairy- 




[144] 




VIEW OF THE PETERS BUILDINGS FROM THE NORTH— A BEAUTIFUL 

ENVIRONMENT 




THE DAIRY. FARM BUILDINGS FOR S. T. PETERS, ESQ., ISLIP, L. I. 




t-7 ffvTw,^ *«,*. I * 

A GOOD GROUPING BUT SADLY IN NEED OF PLANTING. FARM BUILD- 
INGS FOR CHARLES E. RUSHMORE, ESQ., WOODBURY FALLS, N. Y. 




A BEAUTIFUL SETTING FOR THE FARM BARN. FARM 
FOR O. H. KAHN, ESQ., MORRISTOWN, X. .1. 



Bl II. DINGS 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 145 

ing in the old-fashioned way, depending on soapsuds and sun- 
shine for cleanliness, a pleasant though an unscientific view; 
and a lattice in front of the dairy was devised, with hooks 
and pegs, that the cans and pails might he hung in the sun 
upon them. 

It will be noticed that the closet for the men has an out- 
side entrance only. This was put in at the pronounced wish 
of the owner, but it would have been better in the author's 
judgment had this entrance been through the boiler room. 
Here it would have been less likely to freeze and more easily 
inspected. This feature of the farm bam is a trying one, as 
such places are usually dirty and should be kept as far away 
from milk production as possible. On the other hand, they 
want to be sufficiently convenient so that proper inspection 
of them is to be had at all times, and it is a mistake to locate 
the toilet where it cannot have easy and constant supervision. 
The location given to it in Fig. 42 is a good one, and though 
it is placed nearer the dairy, it is yet sufficiently removed. 
Here has been provided a steam and water connection that 
cleanliness may be assured with live steam, and during many 
inspections the result has never revealed anything objection- 
able. This feature is not, after all, so much a question of 
locality as of uncompromising cleanliness — a matter of ad- 
ministration rather than planning. 

The manure trolley goes to the manure shelter through the 
feed room, and, as before stated, there is no objection to this 
disposition of it. 

The buildings depend for their architectural effectiveness 
entirely on their roof lines and in the simple but effective way 
in which the structure is spread over the ground. 



146 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



Fakm Barns at Morristown, N. J. — Fig. 43 

This was the first farm barn building which came to the 
author's architectural practice, and was built in 1900, when 
the principles of sanitary milk were not so definitely estab- 
lished as they are at the present day. Before the idea of the 










Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 43— PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS AT MORRISTOWN, N. J., FOR O. H. KAHN, ESQ. 



manure carrier, it was thought that the only way to dispose 
of manure was to throw it into a manure pit, which for con- 
venience was always placed next to the building. From the 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 147 

present point of view, this is to be avoided, but it was the 
custom at that time. 

The sheep pen, opening into the general courtyard, was 
eventually given up and used for young stock. Another fault 
in the plan, though not a serious one, is that the milk has to 
be carried through the feed room to go to the dairy. It may 
be asked by the thoughtful reader, why this plan should be 
published by way of illustrating a modern farm barn, to which 
the architect replies that it was a first and a serious effort to 
make sightly the habitation of the farm animal, and he simply 
pleads a parent's affection for his first child. The exterior of 
the buildings is perhaps carried out in a less simple manner 
than usual, but is not out of character with the rest of the 
estate, as the house is of the Casino type as designed by the 
distinguished architects of the Ponce de Leon Hotel, at St. 
Augustine, Fla. 

Farm Barns at Woodbury Falls, N. Y. — Fig. 44. 

This plan shows the smallest requirements yet noted, pro- 
viding for only three stalls for farm horses, two box stalls for 
riding-horses, three cows, a calf pen, together with a dairy, 
farmhouse and sheds. 

The dairy has been devised in the form of an octagon, and 
originally had an exterior stairway up to a man's room above. 
This arrangement formed a tower which greatly increased the 
architectural effect of the buildings, but was discarded for 
sanitary reasons, as it was felt that the man's room was too 
near the dairy. Probably this objection is more sentimental 
than real. The scheme is so laid out that the farmer can go 
under cover directly into the cow barn and horse stable ; the 
dairy being separated from the cow stable in the usual way. 



148 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



In the plan it will be noted that the door to the dairy is shown 
opposite the door to the cow barn. This is as it should be. 
During the construction of the building the owner felt that 
odors, germs, or something vague but contaminating, might 
blow from the cow barn and the yard into the dairy, and the 



1 ■ 




MANURE 










Alfred Hopkins, Architect 

FIG. 44— PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS AT WOODBURY FALLS, N. T„ FOR CHARLES E. 

RUSHMORE, ESQ. 

dairy door was changed to the opposite side of the octagon. 
This is, perhaps, a natural view of the layman, but an er- 
roneous one, as the milk has been already exposed to con- 
tamination in the cow barn and the injury, if done at all, has 
been done before it reaches the dairy. Though it is no great 
hardship, in a small plan of this character, to carry the milk 




GENERAL VIEW 




THE TOWER. FARM IUH.DIXGS FOR ,T. E. DAVIJ 
ESQ., BROOKVILLE, L. I. 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 149 

a few feet further around to the opposite side of the octagon, 
yet this detail is gone into as a reply to arguments which the 
architect of the f ami ham frequently has to meet ; and in any 
plan, no matter how small, it must be remembered that the 
work of the milk goes on twice a day for every day in the 
year, and the ease and convenience with which this can be 
done should not be sacrificed for any reasons other than good 
ones. 

Adjoining the dairy is the heater room, and between it and 
the farmer's house is the woodshed. The hay is kept over the 
feed room and cow barn, which, in a small barn of this char- 
acter, is the simplest way of caring for it. 

The buildings are carried out in stone, which adapts itself 
well to a covering of vines and foliage, but, unfortunately, the 
planting was left until some future time, which in the author's 
experience at least, seldom if ever arrives. 

Farm Barns at Brookville, L. I., N. Y. — Fig. 45. 

The plan here shown involves some decidedly new features. 
The requirements of the estate seemed to call imperatively for 
all farm buildings to be incorporated in the one group, and 
the owner, an accomplished horseman, insisted that his rid- 
ing-horses and his dogs be placed where he could see and be 
with them conveniently. It must be confessed that the ques- 
tion of combining a dog-house and a dairy was gone into with 
some trepidation, and while the kennels look very near the 
dairy on the plan, yet the working out of it was more satis- 
factory than was anticipated. "Were the author to solve this 
problem again, he would endeavor in some way to house the 
howl with the hound, so that it could not be heard out of the 
kennels. There is no data yet as to whether or not milk can 




[150] 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 151 

be contaminated by noise, but to the individual who walks 
through these kennels it would seem as if such a thing were 
not unlikely. This scheme is not to be recommended on gen- 
eral principles, but in this instance it seemed to be the right 
thing. Both the dog kennels and the chicken houses have 
been run east and west, so as to have the advantage of a south- 
erly exposure for the runs. These low buildings come across 
the south of the cow yard and form an enclosure without too 
much obstruction. The horses are quartered in twelve box 
stalls, with Dutch doors on each side ; the long overhang of the 
roof provides a convenient place for the manure trolley, which 
is tracked to the manure shelter to the west of the hay barn. 
The men's quarters are located over the carriage and harness 
room, with a second-story porch, and a machinery room is 
added at the end of the building. The tools are stored at the 
bottom of the tower, while the top is devoted to a flock of 
pigeons — always a picturesque adornment. The buildings 
have been carried out in the simplest possible manner, with 
wide clapboards and shingle roofs and in the hope that their 
general type is such as will not look out of place on an old 
farm some way back from the pleasant shores of Long Is- 
land. 

Farm Buildings at Oyster Bay, L. I. — Fig. 46 

Illustrations opposite page 141 

The plan of the buildings here shown calls for an average 
problem, so far as actual requirements go. The original build- 
ing, consisting of the hay barn, horse barn, cow barn and dairy, 
was built some five years ago. The owner subsequently be- 
came interested in thoroughbred cattle and wanted to enlarge 
his farm buildings — a not infrequent occurrence. For this 
reason, in choosing the site for the farm barn, the architect 



152 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



should see to it that there is sufficient space around his orig- 
inal group to allow for possible extension in the future. In 
two instances that have come within the author's experience, 
the farm has been put to real inconvenience because the build- 







Alfred Hopkins, Architect 

FIG. 46— PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS AT OYSTER BAT, L. I., FOR MORTIMER L. 

SOHIFF, ESQ. 

ings were originally located in a place so cramped that it was 
impossible ever to add to them. 

Not so long ago, the problem came up of adding, to the 
above plan, space for young stock and dry stock, and it was 





VIEWS BOTH WAYS THROUGH THE ARCHW \Y CONNECTING THE NEW 
YOl Nt; S'lOCK FARM TO THE .MAIN' GROUP 

FARM BUILDINGS FOR MORTIMER I.. SCHIFF, ESQ., OYSTER BAY, L. t. 



,_*&- 






, n.»- 1- — . -- J- 


i;*f/i«^U#M;. 






I»* ''flH 



SHINGLE ROOFS; CLAPBOARDED WALES, PATNTED RED WITH WHITE 

TRIMMINGS 




4£*S?-| 






FARM BUILDINGS FOR F. L. AMES, ESQ., NORTH EASTON, MASS. 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 153 

decided to put a new building to the south of the present cow- 
barn and let the existing road come between. Connection was 
made by an arch over the road, and two fine cedar trees which 
had grown to mature years at the edge of the pasture were 
brought very happily into the scheme by extending the road 
beneath the archway so as to pass between them. The manure 
trolley, obliged to rim across the roadway, was arranged to 
lift at that point. 

The addition of the young stock wing brought the yard for 
the young stock directly on the main road to the f ami building, 
and as the ground sloped there to the south, the yards had to 
be raised. This made dry yards and brought into prominence 
the young thoroughbreds within by placing them at the very 
edge of the main thoroughfare to the farm. The other fea- 
tures are the usual ones, but the author would like to dwell 
a little on the thought and care given to the addition to the 
original buildings, which became on that account a distinct 
improvement to them. It frequently happens that additions 
to the farm buildings do not achieve this end, such further 
building being frequently left to inexperienced hands. The 
tower shown in the background was erected to conceal an ugly 
iron water tank, and also to provide a viewpoint which should 
command the surrounding country. 

Farm Barns at North Eastox, Mass. — Fig. 47 

Illustrations opposite page 148 

This plan shows a new feature, in the way in which the two 
wings come to a common feed room. The advantage of this 
arrangement is seen in the ease with which the cattle are fed. 
This farm group is designed for the owner of probably the 
finest herd of Guernseys in this country, one who would listen 
to no reasons for sanitary milk, saying that his milk was dis- 



154 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



tinctly a by-product and that his interests lay entirely in the 
breeding of his cattle. For this reason calf pens were put 




Alfred Hoplcim, Architect 

FIG. 47— PLAN OF FARM BUILDINGS AT NORTH EASTON, MASS., FOR F. LOTHROP 

AMES, ESQ. 

in the milking cow barn, so that the calves could have the bene- 
fit of the warmth from the mature animals, a custom which 
prevailed generally some eight or ten years ago. The loca- 
tion of the feed room was original and distinctly successful, 
but apart from this the plan follows out the usual arrange- 
ment. 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 155 

Farm Barns at New Boston, N. H. — Fig. 48. 

This plan shows a distinctly commercial barn, devised with 
no idea of architectural embellishment. The thing considered 
above all was the cow barn, which, while it follows out the 
usual practice, was made as low as possible with a flat, fireproof 
roof, so that the ventilating shafts at the side of the building 
could be run well above the roof, and be as efficient as it is pos- 
sible to have ventilation when acquired from natural sources. 
In the paragraph on ventilation it has already been stated that 
vertical ducts of this description, if run well above a flat roof, 
are perhaps the most efficient, and this assertion seems to have 
been borne out in the ventilation of this building. Where the 
cows are bedded with the shavings generally used in large 
plants of this character, a special bedding bin is desirable, and 
was here constructed so as to be filled from the outside; the 
corner being cut off so that the horses could proceed around 
through the hay barn without backing out. The silos are 
located in the usual manner, opening into the feed room and, 
in the corner of the hay barn on a lower level, is a room for 
the steam roller, utilized as the motive power for the ensilage 
cutter and blower. As there was already a large dairy on 
the f arm, all that was wanted in connection with the new cow 
barn was a can room where the cans could be washed and kept 
for milking and for delivery. A wash room for the men was 
provided in a small building adjoining the cow barn. The 
manure was disposed of in the simplest possible way, by track- 
ing it through the side of the building, where it is emptied into 
manure spreaders and carted away daily. 




[156] 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 157 

The Briarcliff Farm, "White Plains, N. Y. — Fig. 49 

This shows an extended barn containing stalls for two hun- 
dred cattle, the plans of which were drawn by Mr. Robert "W. 
Gardner, New York City. This is strictly a commercial plant, 
but worked out carefully with a Tiew of fulfilling the most 
exact sanitary conditions. This barn was a unit of a group 



Robert W. Oardntr, Architect 
FIG. 49— PLAN OF THE BRIARCLIFF COW BARN. PINE PLAINS, DUCHESS CO., N. T. 

of some three structures of similar design which were located 
at various places on the farm. To this barn has been added 
a milk cooling room, locker and wash room, sterilizer and 
boiler. Although there is elsewhere a central bottling room 
where all milk is bottled, the milk is cooled, the cans washed 
and sterilized at the farm barn itself. Each barn has there- 
fore its own dairy, equipped with every modern appliance for 
the care of milk except the bottling table. 

The ventilation is entirely satisfactory, the outlet ducts be- 
ing the size of one stall and running from the floor of the 
building up through the roof to a height of 40 ft. While these 
vents are unsightly, yet in a building of this character the 
practical thing must prevail, and nothing more practical than 
this arrangement for the outlet duct could be devised. The 



158 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



inlet duct, instead of being placed in the wall where it would 
have been cramped in size, is put directly on the outside of 
the building. 

The stall gutters have been put in level, and after being 
cleaned out are hosed down and broomed out. The concrete 



*T>> 



«*^> 




Robert W. Gardner, Architect 
FIG. 50— SECTION THROUGH THE BRIARCLIFF BAEN 



floors were all kept above the ground, as shown in Fig. 50. 
This has proved to be very satisfactory and it is found that 
the floors keep much drier and warmer when they are raised 
above the earth in this manner. The feed is kept in the second 
story, over the feed room, although this second story space en- 
croaches some 52 ft. over the end of the cow barn. 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 159 

Proposed Farm Buildings at Portchester, N. Y. — Fig. 51 

While the author was engaged in preparing the foregoing 
pages for the press, he was also hard at work upon the scheme 
he here presents, and which is the result of much thought and 
careful consideration and investigation. 

The problem was this: a gentleman having purchased a 
country estate, already of a considerable architectural interest, 
had become fascinated with the idea of having and developing 
the finest herd of Ayrshire cattle in America, and he wanted 
to house this herd in buildings which should be creditable in 
appearance and as perfect in every detail of comfort and 
healthfulness as human thought and ingenuity could make 
them. The owner had given much of his own time to the prob- 
lem and developed some very practical ideas in methods of 
administration, which will be referred to in the discussion of 
the plan. A beautiful site was available (though not until 
additional land was purchased), which was protected on the 
north by a dense woods and open to the south, the east and the 
west to an exceptional degree. 

It was decided to keep eighty milking cows, and these are 
housed in two barns, the milk room — from which the milk is 
sent by trolley to the dairy — being placed between them. 
This milk room is arranged so that the records of the two milk- 
ing barns are kept on opposite sides of the room, as are also 
the wash-basins for the men. Though the one milk room an- 
swers for both barns, yet the milkers and the records of each 
barn are kept distinct and separate. The milk room is reached 
through passageways leading from the east ends of the cow 
barns. Connecting the west ends of the cow barns is a long 
room in which it is intended to wash and clean the cattle pre- 




> r 






[160] 



PLANS OF FARM BARNS 161 

paratoiy to milking, although it is not improbable that this 
room, in time, may be given up and the space used for ad- 
ditional milking cows, as the herd increases in size and im- 
portance. 

Opposite the milking barns are two bams, which have been 
called the "Conditioning Barn" and the "Testing Barn." 
The Conditioning Barn will be under the direction of one man 
whose duty it will be to put the cow in the best possible phys- 
ical condition preparatory to having her calf. This is the 
owner's contribution to the plan, and a very excellent one it 
is. This barn is equipped with twenty box stalls and with a 
separate feed room for special feeds. There is also a room 
which will contain a hot-water heating system, for both the 
Conditioning and Testing Barns. In the Conditioning Bam 
the cow will have her calf, and, after the proper interval, if 
it is decided that she is to try for the advanced registry, she 
will be taken into the Testing Barn for that test. This bam, 
like the Conditioning Barn, has twenty box stalls, and has, 
perhaps, a slight advantage over that barn in location. The 
box stalls here have Dutch doors, and in both structures the 
stall partitions have been made only 3 ft. high, though above 
this is a 2-in. galvanized iron pipe rail at a height of 4 ft. 
above the floor. This partition, shown in Fig. 9, will obscure 
the animal less and will afford better ventilation than any 
other yet suggested. 

Perhaps the most interesting feature of the plan is the 
way the four cow barns are placed, forming a great court, 
with the hay barn at the northwest. The hay barn and the 
four cow barns are all connected by a continuous covered pas- 
sageway, through which the feed is distributed and the manure 
is trolleyed to the manure carts. This covered passageway 



162 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

will be utilized as a shelter for the cattle in the winter, when 
they will be turned out every day for an airing. One of the 
best ways to keep cattle moving and exercising in cold weather 
is to feed them in the yard, and the plan adapts itself most 
readily to an easy carrying out of this idea. The great court 
is divided in the center, so that the cattle from each of the 
milking cow barns may have a separate yard of their own. 
The disposition of the feed rooms and the construction of 
the hay barn are all along the lines which have previously 
been advocated and illustrated, but the arrangement of the 
cow barns is quite a new feature and one that seems 
certain to work out well both practically and architectu- 
rally. 

The dairy is designed along familiar lines, the only varia- 
tion being that all the service — the shipping of the milk and 
the return of the cans — is maintained at the rear of the build- 
ing, which keeps the front entirely free from the traffic of 
the milk wagons. Additional space — and space that is con- 
veniently located to the wash room and refrigerator — has been 
left for the incoming and outgoing cases. To meet the regula- 
tions of the Board of Health, a lavatory has been omitted from 
the dairy building, though the author believes that such a 
regulation is entirely unnecessary in a building of this char- 
acter, where every sanitary detail will be looked after and 
provided for in the most careful manner. 

The young stock buildings have been incorporated in the 
main group so as to be readily accessible to the feed and ma- 
nure trolley systems. The barn for calves is open to the south, 
and is nothing more than a shed in which at all seasons of the 
year the calf romps in and out at pleasure. This method of 
rearing the young animal has been accompanied by the most 






PLANS OF FARM BARNS 163 

satisfactory results, and is infinitely better than keeping them 
in an enclosed barn. 

As the calf matures and grows larger, it is quartered in the 
young stock barn and here fed in the stanchion. A small hay 
barn for the storage of the hay and straw for the calves has 
been included in the young stock group, though the grain and 
ensilage is conveniently brought from the main storage. The 
young stock quarters are connected by a covered passageway, 
so that the entire group may be inspected under cover. Con- 
nected to this passageway are the bull pens and their yards. 
All the manure is conveniently trolleyed to the one manure 
shelter, large enough to accommodate three carts. 

The buildings are to be carried out in yellow brick, with 
shingle roofs, and the woodwork, which is left rough from the 
adze, will be stained a soft brown. The two fine trees between 
the young stock and the main group — one a maple, the other a 
sycamore — nature has developed into splendid specimens, and 
at the rear end of the broad roadway in front of the buildings, 
an old apple orchard will give up one of its rows of trees so 
that a straight and uninterrupted avenue may be continued in 
front of the new farm buildings. 

The plans and photographs herein set forth show only a few 
of the many varieties of expression which may be given to the 
farm barn. It is earnestly hoped these have demonstrated 
that such buildings can be made not only practical, but may 
have an architectural character entirely their own. In our 
present methods of haste, especially with regard to things 
artistic, the esthetic value of the farm barn has been entirely 
overlooked. Men have lavished vast sums in the building of 
the house and in the adornment of the coach stable, in great 



164 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



gardens and woods and bridges, but the home of the farm ani- 
mal has received but little attention from those who would 
make it sightly as well as sanitary. 

The far greater part of this book has of necessity been de- 
voted to the practical things, for the architect of our times 
must build usefully as well as artistically, but the author 
would feel that his work had been in vain if he has not shown 
that the farm buildings may be made an attractive addition 
to any estate, as well as a more comfortable and healthful 
place for the patient creatures who dwell within them. 






Chapter VII 
THE SMALLER PROBLEM 

IT occasionally happens that the architect is called upon 
to design a building for a horse and a cow, or latterly an 
automobile and a cow, the owner wishing to provide against 
the possibilities of impure milk by securing it fresh from his 
own animal. Generally, the cheapest and best method for 
such a farmer to pursue in his quest for clean milk is to buy 




CABBIAQt 
ROOM 



0. S. Etefe, Architect 
FIG. 52 — PLAN OF SMALL STABLE FOR 
HOESE AND OOW 

it. If he can purchase milk which has been certified, it will 
be cleaner and better than any he will be likely to produce for 
himself. If he lives where such milk is not obtainable or 
wants the fun of creating his own milk supply, that is another 
matter, and one which we will now take up briefly. 

The disadvantage of keeping the single cow has not to do 

165 



166 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

with that patient animal itself, but with the care which it is 
necessary to take in keeping her clean and in milking her 
properly in sanitary surroundings. Such an establishment is 
usually taken care of by "the man," who works in the garden, 
tends the horse, and is as likely as not to clean out the horse 
stable just before he seats himself to milk. To teach such an 
individual and to hope that he will retain the most rudimen- 
tary knowledge of what is necessary for clean milk, seems too 
much to expect. A good housekeeper would hardly call upon 
the stableman to come directly from his work and help the 
cook prepare the dinner, and yet it is quite usual to have him 
proceed under those conditions to prepare the milk, which is 
eaten raw, and is a much more delicate substance and more 
liable to infection than any cooked food prepared in the home. 
Consequently, the substitution of a dairy maid for the milk- 
ing at least is greatly to be desired. If this is an impractical 
suggestion, and perhaps the carrying out of it might cause a 
revolution in some households, then the only thing is to urge 
"the man" to be as clean as possible and try and remember 
to wash his hands before he milks, and to give up the habit 
of chewing tobacco during the operation. The cow's hair on 
her flanks and udder should be clipped and not allowed to grow 
long. This is important. If the cook finds cow's hair and 
dandruff on the foam in the milk, then "James" should be 
spoken to about it. All the milk things should be boiled every 
day, and the milk, as soon as milked, should be put in bottles 
and kept in the refrigerator. A cooler is quite unnecessary 
for the one-cow problem. A clean apron, fresh at least twice 
a week, should be used at milking, and it must not be kept in 
the stable. It is probably better to milk the cow at her tether 
than in the average stable, though this is bad practice for the 




[167] 



168 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



serious problem; milk drawn in the field always shows, on 
analysis, the presence of bacteria. 

A separate milking shed with concrete floor would not be 
expensive and would be an excellent idea. Here a wash-basin 
could be provided and a place prepared for the storage of milk 
utensils ; in fact, a combination milking barn and dairy. Real 
cleanliness is the thing required, but seems never to have been 
thought necessary for the care of milk. The proprietor of the 




LXtrei Hepkint, A.rcMt4tt 

FIG. 54— PROPOSED SMALL STABLE AT HEWLET, L. I., FOR H. T. S. 
GREEN, ESQ. 

farm we are discussing should have his wife read carefully 
the preceding notes on "Administration" and carry them out 
as far as possible. A housekeeper's co mm on sense directed 
toward such a milk supply will be all that is necessary, and if 
she will but keep her cow and stable as clean as she does her 
kitchen where other food is prepared, she will not need the 
advice of specialists on milk production. 

With regard to the plan of the building, there are few things 
of importance after having entirely separated the cow from 
the horse and arranged proper ventilation for both their com- 



THE SMALLER PROBLEM 169 

partments. The cow stall should be reached through outside 
air only and should never be directly connected with the horse 
stable. The manure pit is best eliminated and the manure put 
into covered galvanized iron cans. These cans can be emp- 
tied on a compost heap in the garden, and must at all times be 
kept clean. 

The storage of feed is usually had above the stable, but it 
adds to the appearance as well as the convenience of the 
building to arrange a small feed room on the first floor, between 
the cow and the horse. 

Each animal is best kept in a box stall, which — for the horse 
— may be divided temporarily for two animals by a movable 
partition already referred to. 

The interior of the stable is best carried out in plaster in 
preference to wood, and the entire structure should follow the 
lines already suggested for the modern farm buildings. Figs. 
52, 53 and 54 show simple solutions of the smaller problem. 



Chapter VIII 
THE GARAGE 

THAT the automobile is quite as important on the modern 
farm as the other equipment, goes without saying, and 
there is no reason why a space for the automobile should not 
be arranged in the farm group, provided this is done in such a 
manner that the garage will have its separate entrance. This 
of course should be as far away from the cow barn and horse 
barn as possible. The automobile should never be allowed to 
come into the general courtyard. Farm horses are, perhaps, 
more disturbed by it than any others, and in the small prob- 
lem, where the horses and cows are necessarily near together, 
it is much better to eliminate the automobile from the group 
and put up a separate garage at a distance. The garage is 
better combined with the coach stable or the farm stable. 
Fig. 55 shows a plan for a large farm stable where the garage 
has not only its separate entrance to the building but its sepa- 
rate roadway from the main thoroughfare through the estate. 
Consequently there is no reason for the chauffeur to bring his 
machine even on the road which leads to the entrance of the 
stable. Fig. 56 shows the garage combined with a stable 
which was built in such a confined situation that it was impos- 
sible to separate as much as is desirable the entrance to the 
garage from the entrance to the stable. The plan, however, 
has some interesting features — notably the outdoor wash be- 
tween the garage and the stable for the use of both, which 

170 



THE GARAGE 



171 



has been utilized to separate the garage and stable, and yet 
combine them in one building. The garage has space for three 
cars. The projecting bay in front makes the building more at- 




jntD 



COU&T TA2D 



-3HC.D 



.Sfior T ro,LGE 3 ENTMNCt[ UM 





Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 55— PROPOSED FARM STABLE AT GREENWICH, CONN., FOR THE LATE HUGH 

J. CHISOLM, ESQ. 

tractive at that end, the point of approach, and affords space 
besides for a work-bench and a closet for tools. In the second 



172 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



story of the stable an apartment — and one with a very at- 
tractive exposure — has been arranged for the coachman; his 
entrance being from the porch on the corner and always 
through the outside air, thereby avoiding any possibility of 
the odors from the stable reaching the living quarters. From 
the kitchen projects a second-story porch, an addition to the 




| CARRIAGE 
WASH 




Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 56— PLAN OP GARAGE AND STABLE AT ARMONK, N. Y., FOR C. R. AGNEW, ESQ. 

home which as yet is not generally appreciated. The build- 
ing was constructed of rough field stone and the roofs of rived 
cypress shingles. The timber work of the porches and the 
overhangs of the roofs, of rough-hewn chestnut, are stained a 
soft dark brown which time is constantly increasing in depth 
of tone. 

In Fig. 57 is seen a large plan with garage and stable com- 
bined in the one structure. Each has its separate wing 
and separate entrance. A most important feature of the 
architect's work upon the country estate is to combine his 
buildings — if not in one structure, at least in one group of 
structures — so that in the architectural composition all build- 
ings will have a distinct relation one with the other. Nothing 
is more unsightly or shows less grasp of the architectural 




1 \ I l! W( I I ■'!!( IN I 




THE EROKEN ROOK LINKS AT THE BACK. STABLE AND GARAGE FOR 
C. a. AGNEW, tSQ., AH.MONK, X. V. 




PIGGERY OF S. T. PETERS, ESQ., ISLTP, L. I. 




SHOWING ENTRANCE DOORS TO GARAGE FOR S. T. PETERS. ESQ., 

ISLIP, L. I. 



THE GARAGE 



173 



phase of country work than to have various buildings of vari- 
ous sizes and various uses, erected of various designs and ma- 




n/red Bopkint, Architect 
FIG. 57— PLAN OF STABLE AND GARAGE AT ISLIP, L. I., FOR J. HENRY DICK, ESQ. 



terials in various places. To the discriminating eye, this is 
the very acme of all that is awful. 

The Independent Gaeage 

The equipment and arrangement of the garage itself is such 
a simple matter that it will be but briefly touched on here. 
The feature which is liable to put the designer in the greatest 
quandary is the doors. For a small establishment of, say, two 
or three cars, a door is certainly needed for each car space. 



174 



MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 



When it is possible, a single sliding door is the best. It is not 
always a disadvantage to have one door slide in front of an- 
other, as usually one large door in use at a time is sufficient. 
In Fig. 56, a garage with three doors, two of the doors were 
arranged to slide, and one — presumably the least used one — 



tXTUNCt 




Alfred Hopkin*. Architect 
FIG. 58— PLAN OF GARAGE AT ISLIP, L. I., FOB S. T. PETERS, ESQ. 

opposite the pit and repair bench, was hinged. This allows 
the two sliding doors to slide back of the hinged door so that 
two unobstructed openings are available at all times. In any 
group of three doors where one is swung out, it is always pos- 
sible to arrange the other two to slide back of the swinging 
door. This swinging door is usually placed at the end but may 
be in the center just as well. For three doors this method 
of hanging them is probably the best arrangement. 

Another type of door (see plate opposite page 173) is fre- 



THE GARAGE 175 

quently used. This folds in the center, horizontally, and by 
its mechanism is hoisted up and held at the very top of the 
opening. This allows any number of doors to be used at once, 
as each door is contained within its own opening, which has to 
be 10 ft. in height. This mechanism, while cumbersome, is 
not impracticable and is desirable under certain conditions. 
It was used for the garage at Islip, Fig. 58, where it was de- 
sirable on account of the number of machines in frequent 
use. 

For a structure of a temporary nature the doors may be 
opened out and each door held open very readily by a stock 
hardware fixture, and one which seems to work well. For 
doors opening out this device is necessary, and doors hung in 
this manner are the least expensive in their installation. For 
important work the other two methods are the best, as doors 
swung out are unsightly and in the way. 

Another method is to hang the door in four folds, that is, 
divide each half into two folds. This allows the doors to fold 
back into a 2-ft. jamb where they are well out of the way. The 
objection to this method is the number of bolts required to 
fasten each fold. 

The foregoing suggestions with regard to doors are all made 
for the garage with entrance on one side only, and having a 
door for each automobile. As has been pointed out this plan 
frequently complicates the operation of the doors and in the 
plan shown in Fig. 57 the garage was designed with doors wide 
enough to allow storage space for two automobiles opposite the 
one door opening. This scheme was devised on the theory 
that one large single door, wide enough for two automobiles, 
is more easily handled than would be two smaller doors, es- 
pecially where these are hinged in pairs, making four swing 



176 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



doors for two openings. The two end doors in Fig. 57 slide 
in pockets, the center door sliding on the wall behind them; 
by this arrangement all doors may be used independently and 
all opened at once. 
Apart from the doors the garage offers no difficulties, ex- 



SHEO 




i. - - r 

Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 59— PLAN OF A PROPOSED GARAGE AND CHAUFFEUR'S COTTAGE 

cept to avoid the instinct which prompts most people to build 
too small. Ten feet should be allowed for the width of a car 
where each machine has its own door, and for the smaller ma- 
chines the depth of the building should never be less than 20 
ft. Where cars of 17 ft. in length are housed, a depth of 25 
ft. is desirable. The doors should never be narrower than 
8 ft. and 8 ft., 6 in. or 9 ft. seems of sufficient height. 

In Fig. 58 is given the plan of a garage which has proved 
entirely satisfactory. The large room contains six cars, three 
on each side. The entrance is of sufficient width to allow one 
car to be washed and still leave a clear space for passage in- 



THE GARAGE 



177 



or out. The machine shop is to the left of the entrance and 
the chauffeur's room to the right. Over the front rooms are 
four sleeping-rooms with a living-porch on the second story, 
which caught the owner's fancy to such an extent that he 
had a similar structure added to his own home. 

In Fig. 59 the plan is given of a garage and chauffeur's cot- 




M ■_ 



Alfred Hopkins, Architect 
FIG. 60— PLAN OF GARAGE AT GLEN COTE, L. I., FOR CLIFFORD V. BROKAW, ESQ. 



tage which has in addition a large shed for visiting machines 
— always a desirable and frequently a necessary feature in the 
private garage. 

In Fig. 60 is shown a plan along similar lines to that in Fig. 
57, except that the entrance is larger, accommodating two 
washes, one on each side of the entrance. In Fig. 57 the site 



178 



MODEEN FAEM BUILDINGS 



allowed entrance to the garage from the front and back, which 
simplified the problem greatly. In Fig. 60, entrance was to 
be had from the front only, which necessitated the widest pos- 
sible opening from the wash to the automobile room. This 
does not separate the washing space quite as much as is de- 
sirable, for the wet and spatter of the hose is best kept en- 
tirely away from the clean cars. To partially overcome this 



FRAME 



h 



*-4' 



-J FLOOR 
GRATING I5X2*' I LINEV 




A" WASTE. 



FIG. 61— DETAIL OF SAND TRAP FOR THE AUTOMOBILE 
WASH OR CARRIAGE WASH 



objection in the plan (Fig. 60), an overhead washer was put 
in the machine shop, which will allow a third place where cars 
may be washed. Here the washing will be entirely out of the 
way — a disposition of the wash room which the chauffeur in- 
variably prefers. Fig 61 gives the detail of a very good 
type of outlet for either the automobile wash or the carriage 
wash. This trap, called a "sand trap," is formed entirely in 
the concrete floor. The sand from the washing will not stop 
up the soil line, but collects in the bottom of the trap, where 
it can easily be removed with a hoe. The grating and frame 
should be galvanized and the grating made easily removable. 
In arranging for the chauffeur's rooms the temptation is 
to put them on the second story on account of economy. This 
is a delusion. It is not an economy, and much more artistic 






THE GARAGE 179 

results are obtained by keeping them on the first story. By so 
doing, a more interesting mass of the building is possible, and 
more comfortable living-quarters are obtained. 

The pump for gasoline is always desirable, and the tank 
must be 20 ft. away from the building and filled from the out- 
side. The pipe should drain from the pump to the tank — 
never the reverse. In the plan shown in Fig. 60, two deep 
alcoves on either side of the door to the machine shop have 
been arranged: one to receive the gasoline pump and hose, 
the other the enameled iron cabinet for the lubricating oils. 



Chapter IX 
OTHER BUILDINGS OF THE FARM 

Chicken Houses 

THERE has been such a deal of controversy, at least in 
the author's practice, over the requirements of the 
chicken house, that he has felt an extended discussion of this 
building had better be left to those who are possessed with 
a knowledge of the subject, more satisfying to themselves. 
Every chicken man has decided notions of his own as to what 
is necessary for the successful chicken house, and no two men 
seem to agree as to what type of structure will best assist or 
persuade the hen to lay. A shortage of eggs has so frequently 
been assigned by the master of the hens to faults in the archi- 
tect's plan that this architect at least has made up his mind 
— as has everyone else interested in chickens — that no one 
really knows anything about them but himself, and that a 
proper chicken house has never been built and never will be, 
until it can be carried out in its entirety by himself and him- 
self alone. 

What the hen needs more than anything else is fresh air, and 
to be assured of this it was thought that she needed almost 
unlimited range and plenty of room in her house. Crowding 
in the pen was the worst possible condition. A writer in The 
Country Gentleman, some years back, said that in the coop 
10 sq. ft. of clear floor space per hen was desirable; this be- 
ing exclusive of all passageways and floor space occupied by 

180 




EXTERIOR OF HUOODI'.K HOUSE 



■ 




YARDS AM) BROODER HOUSE; STORAGE SIIKI) AT RIGHT. CHICKEN' 
HOUSES FOR FRAN'CIS I.YNDE STETSON, ESQ., STERLINGTOX, X. Y. 




COLONY HOUSES PERMANENTLY LOCATED 




INTERIOR OK BROODER HOUSE THE USUAL TYPE 



OTHER BUILDINGS 181 

nests, roosts, etc. A certain Mr. Philo, whose book ' on this 
subject, though somewhat commercial, everyone interested in 
chickens ought to read, became enthusiastic over the idea of 
rearing chickens in the smallest possible space, and advertised 
that a successful egg farm could be established on a plot of 
ground 40 ft. square. We cite this as showing the very great 
differences of opinion that may be found with regard to the 
housing of the hen. 

Undoubtedly, where space permits, the best method of ar- 
ranging the chicken farm is to follow out the idea known as the 
Colony Plan. This is a separate and usually movable house 
large enough to contain a cockerel and from six to a dozen 
hens. On the Skylands Farm at Sterlington, N. Y., the two 
systems of the general chicken house and the colony house have 
been carefully compared and a decided preference has been 
given to the colony plan. The colony houses are usually mov- 
able and located at a distance from each other, although this 
is not necessary and the individual houses may be placed near 
together and permanently located as shown in plate facing 
p. 182, the fowls roaming over a dozen acres during the day re- 
turn at evening each to its own home. This type of house 
should invariably be used for breeding purposes, as the birds, 
unconfined and left to roam about at will, are more hardy on 
that account. The records at Skylands show that they also 
lay better. Fig. 62 shows a drawing of the colony house 
used there. 

This is a small building, 4x6 ft., which will house one cockerel 
and six hens. It is of two stories, the roosts and nests being 
above. The whole advantage of this type of structure lies in 
the ventilation. At the bottom of each long side there is an 

i See list at end of this subdivision of the chapter. 



182 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



opening 6x1 ft., 10 in., which can be partially or entirely closed, 
either with a solid wooden shutter or a sliding muslin screen. 
This opening regulates the admission of fresh air in a very 



^oor TO OPEM 




JOW \ 






C005TJ- 



NC5T3 T 



hincld nur 

wit. " mu.. 




Vooo*. 



-s 



,31 DC. CLCVATIOM 



.XCTION 



MWOfta-' 



BOOSTS 



rxxaj- wiet BtLOw 



1 




DOOIi 




PLAN 



CHD CLtWTION 



i l , t 1 



PIG. 62— PLAN OF COLONY HOUSE USED AT SKYLANDS FARM, STERLINGTON. N. T. 



flexible manner. One side of the roof is constructed to raise 
in two sections, and the opening so made is also arranged to be 
partially or entirely closed with a sliding muslin screen. Some 
care must be used in regulating the ventilation in winter, but 
this method of housing is admirable in providing the birds 



OTHER BUILDINGS 



183 



with shelter without depriving them of fresh air. The 
chicken sleeps much more than man — in the winter time twelve 
hours out of the twenty-four, so that healthful surroundings 
during sleep are most important for the best condition of the 
bird. 

The plan shown in Fig. 63 is a type of chicken house which 
has many advocates. It is called the ' ' Open Front, ' ' from the 
fact that the large opening, which should face the south, is 




DHOPHKG 
tOASLD 




OOOB. ( 60AB.D 

f&ONT LLLVATION 




Plan 



JIDL LLLVATION 



FIG. 63— PLAN OF OPEN FRONT CHICKEN HOUSE 



kept open at all seasons of the year. To modify this some- 
what in extreme weather, a muslin screen is put in the open- 
ing, although this is not at all necessary according to the en- 
thusiast for this type of house. The high windows in the sides 
are for summer ventilation and should be left open all sum- 
mer. There is no doubt that the building would be cooler if 
portions of the roof could be raised in the same manner as 
shown in Fig. 62. 

Where space does not permit the Colony Plan, and the 
chicken farm must be restricted and the birds confined, the 



184 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



usual chicken house is a long building, divided into separate 
pens, these pens being about 8x12 ft., in which are kept from 
20 to 25 birds. This allows 4 or 5 sq. ft. of floor space per bird. 
The best traditions — or superstitions — face this building to the 
south. The south front is full of windows reaching nearly to 
the floor, so that as much sun as possible may fall upon the 
pen floor. A passageway from which the pens are entered is 
placed at the north, and the north wall has few if any openings 
in it, so that it may afford perfect protection in winter. For 
a winter house only, this may do very well, but for the sum- 
mer a more uncomfortable building could scarcely be designed. 
There is no possibility of ventilating it, or of allowing a cool- 
ing draught of air to blow through it. As has been pointed 
out before, the important thing, in our climate at least, is to 
provide a cool building in summer. It is a simple matter to 
get heat in winter, but it is a very difficult one to devise a build- 
ing which will be cool on a warm day. A much better disposi- 
tion of the chicken house would be to run it north and south, 
as advocated for the cow bam, with large windows and doors 
on both sides and with chicken yards on each side. Then it 
would be possible to retain one yard and plant it with suitable 
crops while the other one was in use. To have two chicken 
yards that are interchangeable is a great advantage, as the con- 
tinual use of one causes it to become foul and infected with the 
germs that are harmful to chicken life. This plan, however, 
has one disadvantage, as it does away with the passageway be- 
hind the pens, although the only use of this is to allow the 
owner an easy inspection of his fowl. It is not at all neces- 
sary however, for the care of the birds themselves, and apart 
from the owner's comfort, this additional space had better be 
given over to the flock. What is of great importance for the 



OTHER BUILDINGS 185 

chicken house is a dry location. Dampness must be avoided, 
not only in the building but out of it, and elevated and well 
drained ground for the site of the chicken house is of prime 
importance. 

In spite of the general use of concrete for the floor, this is 
not desirable except as a means of keeping out the rats. The 
floor of the pen itself is best of wood, elevated above the con- 
crete floor, 18 in. or 2 ft. This gives a circulation of air be- 
neath the pen and affords sufficient space to allow a dog to 
catch any rat seeking shelter there. Such floors are drier 
than any other type. 

All the doors in the pens and yards should be of the double- 
swing variety, the same hinge being used as that for a butler's 
pantry door; this hinge permits the door to be pushed open 
from either side and when released to immediately swing back 
into position. Doors 2 ft. wide and 6 ft. high are large enough 
for the average problem. The windows should be numerous 
on all sides, and blinds, after the manner prescribed for the 
cow barn, are desirable during the summer. The protection 
of the fowl in winter by dropping a curtain enclosing the 
roosts is a good thing, but a little heat throughout 'the entire 
house is probably better, though this should mean more venti- 
lation, not less. In the killing-room a dozen small coops are 
placed in which to confine the chickens preparatory to that 
operation. All roosts, nests, etc., should be removable for easy 
cleaning. All dust projections should be eliminated, and the 
old-fashioned whitewash for interior finish is as good as any- 
thing. Fig. 64 shows the plans of a chicken house that was 
designed to meet, if possible, all objections. Skylights were 
put in the southern slope of the roof to give additional sun- 
shine in the pens in the winter and also to afford better venti- 




[186] 



OTHER BUILDINGS 



187 



lation at all times. In the front of each pen is a door 2 ft. 
4 in. wide, the remaining space being taken up by a large 
window; the sash, divided in the center, is arranged to open 
in half or entire. By this means the chicken house may be 
readily converted into the "Open Front" type — from all ac- 
counts a very good one. By closing all the windows and doors, 
it may be made at once into the tightest kind of a "Tight 
Front" type — from all accounts a very bad one but still de- 




2. me.1 Mtjtt 



O FL*P O 



O fLAP O 



JWIW? 



FIG. 65— ELEVATION OF PEN IN PASSAGEWAY 

sired by some. The north wall is well ventilated by good- 
sized windows, which should be left open throughout the sum- 
mer, though they seldom are. The usual manner of arrang- 
ing the roosts and nests is shown in Figs. 65 and 66, the 
nests and the dropping-boards being accessible from the 
passageway. Plate facing p. 188 shows a photograph of the 
interior. 



188 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



For the small plant the commercial outdoor brooder is the 
best. For the larger scheme the brooder building is a satis- 
factory structure, and the plan shown in Fig. 64 illustrates the 
usual type. The important thing in the brooder house is to 
separate completely the cellar for the incubators from the 
cellar in which is placed the boiler. It is impossible to pre- 
vent the coal gas escaping from the boiler and the fumes of 







PERCHES ■ NESTS- 
DROPPING- BOARDS 
AND iTtrj TO- DC 
EEMOM&LE- 



GR.ADI 



£3 



L-A 



FIG. 66— SECTION THROUGH OHIOKEN HOUSE SHOWING NESTS, ETC. 

imperfect combustion are harmful to the hatching egg. An 
independent, well-ventilated cellar, which shall have no en- 
trance except through the outside air, must be provided for 
the incubators. In the plan, Fig. 64, this cellar is under the 
end of the building. The store room is a very desirable room 
to be had in connection with either the chicken or brooder 
house. In connection with the chicken houses at Sky- 




A MANURE PIT TO Willi II \ LARGE ENCLOSURE WAS VDDED FOR 

Till-: STORAGE OF LEAVES, ISI IT I TO nil. GARDNER IN S'ARIOI - 

W VYS. SKYL VNDS I \I!M 




THE INTERIOR OF A CHICKEN HOUSE. THE LARGE WINDOWS FOLD 
IN THE CENTER AND ARE HOOKED UP AGAINST THE CEILING 




ENTRANCE TO SHEPHERD'S QUARTERS 




SHEEPFOLD FOR FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON. ESQ.. STERI.1NGTON. N. V. 






OTHER BUILDINGS 189 

lands, a separate storage shed has been provided. For the 
chicken farm a good-sized storage place is necessary for out- 
door brooders and hovers which are out of season, to say noth- 
ing of extra coops and shipping-boxes and that inevitable ac- 
cumulation of things which though hardly fit for use seem 
yet too valuable to be thrown away. 

In the above very brief reference to chicken houses, it is 
probable that the enthusiast will not find sufficient data with 
which even to disagree. If he is resolved to have the only 
perfect chicken plant in existence he will probably wish to 
read much more than has been written here ; and happily there 
is much more to be read, and the following volumes are sug- 
gested for his approval, all of which are exhaustive, and some 
exhausting, in their treatment of the subject: 

The Home Poultry Book, E. I. Farrington. — McBride, Nasi 
dCo. 

The Beginner in Poultry, C. S. Valentine. — Macmillan. 

The Practical Poultry Keeper, Lewis Wright. — Cassell & Co. 

The Principles and Practice of Poultry Culture, John H. 
Robinson. — Ginn & Co. 

American Poultry Culture, R. B. Sando. — A. C. McClurg. 

Poultry and Profit, W. W. Broomhead. — Cassell & Co. 

Poultry Keeping, Edward Brown, F.L.S. — Edward Arnold, 
London. 

The Poultry Book, Harrison Weir. — Doubleday, Page & Co. 

The New Egg Farm, H. H. Stoddard. — Orange Judd Co., 
1907. 

Philo System of Progressive Poultry Keeping, E. W. 
PMlo.— E. R. Philo, Elmira, N. Y. 

Open Air Poultry Houses for All Climates, Prince T. 
Woods, M.D. — American Poultry Journal Publishing Co. 



190 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



Sheepfold 

Although a number of the plans of farm barns already il- 
lustrated have included quarters for the sheep, yet it is better 
to keep sheep at a distance from the farmyard, if the best 
results of breeding and rearing them are to be obtained. The 



WtlGHT- 



GATE TO SLIDE UP 



[ I^TtHICK, 



r 7^ 



3'---V* 



XL 



WOOD PINS 



■•« 1%.* 



ROUND ALL tOGtS 



FIG. 67— DETAIL OF SLIDING GATE IN SHEEP PEN DOOR 

one vital thing in the sheep barn is ventilation, and any barn 
which does not provide this will fail. 

While many barns of practical sheep breeders are arranged 
to store the hay overhead, yet a better method is to keep the 
feed separated from the animals, just as was advocated for 
the cow barn, and the same reasons for this prevail here as 
there. A general and a separate storage place for feed is de- 
sirable and this should include a cellar for roots. 



OTHER BUILDINGS 191 

The usual practice is to run the sheep shed east and west, 
with the long sides facing the north and south ; the southern 
elevation having as many doors as are possible. There are two 
ways of arranging this door: the usual one is similar to the 
Dutch door, the lower part in two folds, each opening out, and 
the upper part in one fold, opening in and up against the roof 
or ceiling. In warm weather the upper part may be open 
while the lower is closed, thereby controlling the egress of the 
flock. The other way is to provide a large sliding door for the 
entire opening and in addition there is hung between the jambs 
a slatted gate which slides up and down (Fig. 67) . This gate, 
balanced by weights, operates very easily. The large door 
being opened, the gate is left at the bottom of the opening, the 
slats allowing better ventilation than the solid doors ; upon the 
sheep going out, the slatted door is raised and the flock passes 
beneath it. In warmer climates, such as our own, the latter 
is the better type of door, but where long winters and blizzards 
are usual, the barn can be better ventilated in extreme weather 
with the Dutch door. The lower half of this door being solid, 
it affords greater protection; though if the sliding gate, usu- 
ally made of slats, were built solid, it would be equally ef- 
fective. The sliding door is always more convenient than the 
swinging door and is especially recommended in the sheep- 
fold. These doors should never be less than 6 ft. in width and 
can be increased to 7 ft. or even 8 ft. to advantage. Sheep 
crowd one another on going in and out of the building, and 
the widest possible opening is desirable. The doors just de- 
scribed occur in the south front of the sheepfold. It is just 
as important for proper ventilation to have suitable openings 
at the north, where long batten shutters, coming within 3 ft. 
of the floor, should be arranged. These are necessary for 



192 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



summer ventilation and for the warmer days of winter. The 
practice of leaving a north wall without openings for protec- 
tion in winter is bad ; such an arrangement may be well enough 
during a blizzard, but a sheep barn so designed will be a poor 
one in any but the most extreme cold. 
Equal in importance to ventilation is the dryness of the 



tf'J. 



*am 



gjtt-£ 



wwvn 



r .1 i' 



HINGED 
-SLAT 
FRAMED 



•BOUTS 



SIDE ELEVATION 




HINGED SLAT 
FRAMES TO 
DROP BACK. 
AGAINST SIDES 

FOR FEED 
l'K4" 




CROSS SECTION 



END ELEVATION 



FIG. 



68. — DETAIL OF SHEEP FEEDING-RACK RECOMMENDED AS MOST ECONOMICAL 

OF FEED 



floor. Sheep do best standing on the natural earth, but this 
must be invariably kept dry, and consequently the sheepfold 
should be located only on high ground or on such as can be 
effectively drained. To make the floor dry beyond question, 
it is well to fill in the building with a foot or so of broken stone 
and then to lay 8 or 10 in. of earth upon this. 




THE NORTH WALL 




THE SOUTH WALL. THERE ARE NO RUNS HERE, THE PIGS GOING 

DIRECTLY INTO THE MANURE PIT. THE PIGGERY, SKYLANDS FARM, 

STERLINGTON, N. Y. 



OTHER BUILDINGS 



The best method of dividing the barn into pens is by the 
feeding-racks, which are always made movable. The type of 
feeding-rack which allows the sheep to put its head between 
wide slats and eat the hay (Fig. 68) is preferable to any 
other. The usual narrow slatted rack (Fig. 69) causes the 
sheep to pull the hay out of the rack before it is eaten, and 
much of it is trampled under foot and thereby wasted. 

Many small pens for lambing ewes should be provided ; these 



aip' Tt> ta'-o* 



t* K V -~\ 




CCUND ALL 
I.OQt» AMD 
COBNCPS 



FIG. 69— DETAIL OF USUAL TYPE OF FEEDING RACKS 

need not be over 4x5 ft. in size, and are usually arranged so 
that they may be removed and stored away after the lambing 
season has passed by (Fig. 70). These pens should always 
be placed in a room which can be artificially heated. This is 
the only heat necessary in the sheepfold, except in the shep- 
herd's rooms, for which warmth should always be provided, 
as his presence is very necessary during the lambing season, 
when he not only officiates as attendant and head nurse, but 
frequently as a foster mother as well; for it sometimes hap- 
pens that a lamb left an orphan at birth must be brought up 
on the bottle by the shepherd himself. 

Fresh water should be had at all times at the sheep pen. 
and if the water supply is sufficient to afford continuous run- 
ning water, ideal conditions have been obtained. Sheep are 



194 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



particularly sensitive with regard to water and quickly detect 
any foulness in it. Troughs should be arranged so that the 
sheep may drink at any time. In computing the size of the 
sheep cote allow 20 sq. ft. for each ewe, outside of all passage- 



bfj Nw*.LL LINE 



UMMNG PEN 



CONCRETE. FLOOD 



ALL CORNERS ROUN0E.0. 
ALL SECTIONS AND POSTS 
■TO BE REMOVABLE . 



«-B 



_L 



•»'*W 



■f»7a' 



\kw/yym^M.m^m»Mzi 



_ 



S'-4* 






n 



CONCRETE rtOOB 



m 



1BOU SOCKETS 






FIG. 70 — DETAIL SHOWING REMOVABLE LAMBING PEN PARTITIONS 



ways. Fig. 71 gives the plan of the sheepfold at Sterlington, 
N. Y., in which all the above suggestions have been incor- 
porated and which will explain and amplify them. 



• i - t ■*• 





^nttf rox.0 



FIG. 71— PLAN OF SHEEPFOLD AT STERLINGTON, N. T., FOR FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON, 

ESQ. 



OTHER BUILDINGS 195 

Manure Pit and Piggery 

The author has not been as successful as he could wish in 
inducing the gentleman fanner to believe that in his piggery 
he has architectural possibilities of which advantage should be 
taken. The owner, when he conies to consider his pigs, is 
usually content to treat them as pigs, and to house them ac- 
cordingly. Still, the piggery may show some taste in its de- 
sign, and, like the other buildings of the farm, need not be 
ugly in order to be practical. As the practical phase of the 
problem is the important one we will commence there and 
leave the artistic side to that f ortunate man who finds pleasure 
in considering the appearance of even the humblest of the farm 
buildings. 

A common disposition is to locate the piggery adjoining the 
manure pit, where the pigs, rooting in the manure, work it up 
and hasten its rotting. Such treatment of the manure pro- 
duces excellent results in preparing it for the land, and on 
large estates such a combination of pit and piggery is very 
desirable. To properly contain the manure nothing more is 
needed than a concrete platform surrounded by a wall. It 
is better without a roof ; and, if the site permits the drawing 
off of the liquids from a lower level into a sprinkling-cart, all 
the benefits of a manure pit have been obtained. Some farmers 
prefer a roof over the manure, and if this is provided, a hose 
outlet for wetting it down must also be arranged. Ordinarily, 
the rain will not be more than is good for the manure ; but in 
an unusually wet season the uncovered manure pit may hold 
too much water, in which case the drawing off of it into a cart 
is an advantage, and the liquid so obtained is more valuable 
than the manure itself for fertilization. Plate facing p. 188 



196 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



shows the usual method of constructing the manure pit when 
this is roofed over. The sides, being of slats for the purpose 
of ventilation, also serve as a screen. 

■We will now leave the manure pit and return to the pig- 
gery ; and first of all to that part of it which is the most im- 
portant, as it is the most apparent, namely, its ventilation. 
Vent ducts are a help, but they have to be numerous, and so 
large that it is better to rely on openings in the side walls 
front and back for the taking off of odors. These openings — 




FIG. 72— PLAN OF PIGGERY AT GREENWICH, CONN., FOR DR. J. CLIFTON 

EDGAR 

windows in the front and shutters in the back — ought to be 
as numerous as possible, and in the summertime should be 
left open night and day. 

Fig. 72 shows a usual plan for the piggery, in which large 
ventilating ducts are installed. As they were operated, these 
were not sufficient to take off the odors. Plate facing p. 195 
shows a photograph of the north and south walls of a 
piggery, both walls with a continuous row of openings. This 
building is practically free from odor and this is the only 
way to really ventilate the piggery. 

The piggery is usually faced south with the passageway at 
the north. The pens may vary in size, 8x10 ft. being a fair 



OTHER BUILDINGS 



197 



average, and one or more larger pens, 10x12 ft., should be pro- 
vided for a sow and her litter. Fig. 73 shows the floor of the 
pen which may well be made of concrete provided that a por- 
tion of it, where the animal sleeps, has a wood covering. The 
concrete floor is better left in front of the feeding-trough, 



■f 



Ci 



-A^ 



-T 



K>% COLTS C* DOOft! 



-7^- 



_^o-_ 



PLAN OF PLR3 
TOL PIGGLRY 



W 



^r 



PIG PE.N 



PIG PE.N 

CO.JCO.tTl. fLOOH 



njnoui »:t 



"Lbo< p±= 



=c 



=c 



r^ 



=t 



^ 



■% pipe RAIL 

fOR PROTtCTIOM 
Of .SMALL PK3S 



DOOR TO 

YARD 



T-OO 

SBTI 



y' 



1* 



JEIATS 



DOOR TO 
VARO 



.•••■:':• :'::>:^ 



FIG. 78 — DETAIL OF PEN FLOOE SHOWING PIPING IN FARROWING PENS 



where the hosing out of the trough is likely to wash the ad- 
jacent floor. A bell trap should never be placed in the pen 
floor, as this becomes foul beyond description. The pen should 
drain to the outside through the pen door and then into a 
continuous gutter, run the length of the piggery. Where the 
piggery connects immediately with the manure pit, the pens 
need drain only through the door and then into the manure 



198 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



pit. Care should be taken to locate the piggery on high, well- 
drained ground, so that a dry building may at all times be as- 
sured. A bell trap in the passageway is necessary, though as 
just pointed out, one must never be put inside the pen. 

A very necessary thing in the farrowing pens is a 2-in. pipe 
railing 10 in. out from the side walls and the same height above 
the floor; this prevents the sow from rolling over on one of 
her progeny and killing it. The pipe rail keeps her away from 




SECTION AT TROUGH 

FIG. 74— SECTION THROUGH FEED- 
ING TROUGHS 



the wall and gives the little one a space through which he may 
escape. The pen partition walls are best made of concrete, 
troweled to a hard smooth finish. The feeding-troughs are 
made as shown in Fig. 74. A door hung at the top and swing- 
ing over the trough, makes it possible to separate the animal 
from the feed while it is being prepared. When the meal is 
ready the door is swung to the outside of the trough, when 
the trough itself comes within the pen. 
It is curious to note that in an old volume on farm buildings, 



OTHER BUILDINGS 199 

published in 1833, 1 which the author picked up in a second- 
hand book store in Oxford, the pig trough is shown arranged 
in just this manner. The door from the pen to the yard is 
frequently hung at the top in the same fashion, and, to quote 
from the volume of 1833, its advantages are as follows : 

"The use of the swing door, which is nothing more than a 
frame of boards suspended from a rail, the ends of which move 
in sockets freely either way between the jambs of the door, 
is to prevent the door from ever being left open in severe 
weather. When the pig wishes to go out, he soon learns to 
push it before him; and the same when he wishes to return." 

This method is still in use and remains an entirely satis- 
factory one. 

In connection with the piggery there should be a small feed 
room with a chimney. A cooker is always necessary, and the 
best method of cooking is with live steam. As in the cow barn, 
the steam may be used also in washing out the troughs and 
pens. Only with live steam can real cleanliness be assured. 
In the selection of materials, concrete is the best; wood the 
least desirable. Though the wooden floor in a portion of the 
pen is advisable, yet it should always be installed so as to be 
readily removed and must be renewed before, not after, it be- 
comes foul. With the single row of pens, the best exposure 
for the piggery is with its long axis east and west. With the 
double row of pens, its long axis is better north and south, so 
that the yards may have an easterly and westerly exposure. 

Fig. 75 shows a very interesting piggery, and a type that 
should be generally adopted. It was built at Islip and de- 

i Louden's Encyclopedia of "Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture and Furniture," 
London, 1833, a volume of some 1138 pages. It contains many designs of "Model Farm- 
eries," some of -which quite surpass in extent any of those set forth here. 



200 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



signed by Mr. H. T. Peters. Its great advantage over the 
usual piggery is in the location of the feeding-troughs, which 
are in the yards and not in the peyis. The foulness of the 
odors in a piggery comes very largely from the feed; taking 
this out of the building is of the greatest importance, and 




FIG. 75 — PLAN OF PIGGERY AT ISLIP, L. I. 



with the feed trough in the yard the pens themselves can be 
kept in a much more sanitary condition. The trough is con- 
tinuous — another advantage in its cleanliness, for it is readily 
hosed down and washed out. The plate facing p. 174 shows a 
photograph of the exterior which will explain the plan more 
clearly. It is an admirable arrangement. 

Root Cellab 

Where roots are intended to be used as feed, it is usual 
— as it is more convenient — to put them below the feed room, 
where they may be readily obtained and prepared. As pre- 
viously pointed out, such root cellars are likely to freeze in 
extreme cold weather, and some method for heating them un- 
der such conditions should be provided. The best way to do 
this is to build a chimney containing a large flue, 16x20 in., 
which does service as a ventilating flue when not in use as a 






OTHER BUILDINGS 201 

chimney. Ventilation for the root cellar is as important in 
preventing undesirable conditions as ventilation for the cow 
barn or horse stable. Roots mold and spoil very quickly if 
deprived of a circulation of air, so that the root cellar must 
be so ventilated as to insure a circulation of air throughout 
every part of it. The volume of fresh air here need not ap- 
proach in extent that required by the buildings for housing 
the animals. If the ventilation is arranged so that the air 
will come in at the extreme end and be taken out at the other, 
it will provide all that is necessary. 

There seems to be a difference of opinion as to whether the 
floor is better of earth or concrete. Some farmers prefer 
the latter, for its possibilities of cleanliness, while others will 
tolerate nothing for the storage of roots but the soil in which 
they are grown. The character of the site and the position of 
the cellar with respect to it are important factors. A dry 
cellar must be assured at all times, and good drainage and a 
sandy soil are the necessary natural conditions. If such con- 
ditions prevail, the root cellar is best without a concrete floor. 
, Where other considerations place the farm buildings on low 
ground, every precaution should be taken to provide a dry 
cellar — waterproofed floors and walls and careful drainage of 
the foundation. After a dry place has been provided, sand 
may be put in over the concrete floor. 

The difficulty of the root cellar under the feed room is that 
it frequently thrusts the cellar so deep in the ground that in 
some localities it is difficult to keep it dry. To obviate this 
the author has tried several times to construct a root cellar 
above ground, forming the walls of three thicknesses of build- 
ing tile or of studding, and filling the spaces between with 
sawdust or granulated cork. This construction has been 



202 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



entirely successful in keeping the contents from freezing, 
but only when this room has been placed in the farm 
building (Fig. 36). For the isolated root cellar the only sat- 
isfactory one is found by going into the side of a bank 
and constructing a chamber whose top as well as sides 




LLLVATION 

FIG. 76— PLAN OF BOOT CELLAR 



are completely covered by the earth. (Fig. 76.) The 
ground above the top should be at least 3 ft. deep ; the entrance 
— the one side exposed to the air — had best face south, though 
its exposure may incline to the east or west but never to the 
north. Ventilation must be provided, which can be arranged 
by an inlet in the door and a flue carried up above the ground 



OTHER BUILDINGS 203 

at the back. Though this is a perfect type of root cellar, it is 
not automatic with all degrees of temperature, and some reg- 
ulation of the ventilation is necessary in extreme weather con- 
ditions. A concrete roof, which must drain as shown, is the 
best. In fact such a structure is practically indestructible and 
should serve its purpose as long as it is put to its use. 

Ice Houses 

After many experiments in building ice houses of various 
materials and placing them in various stages between entirely 
above and entirely below ground, it has been pretty well dem- 
onstrated that the structure of wood, placed if possible in the 
shade and constructed as shown in Fig. 77, serves its purpose 
better than any other type of construction. The plan as 
drawn calls for a building of 6-in. studs, sheathed on both sides 
and filled between with sawdust. Upon the outside sheathing 
and placed vertically, are 2x4-in. studs, 24 in. apart, also 
sheathed or elapboarded and forming a 4-in. air space around 
the entire building. This space, left open at the bottom and 
at the top, allows the air as it becomes heated by the rays of 
the sun to pass up and out. A ceiling is formed at the level 
of the tie beams, insulated with sawdust in the same manner 
as the side wall. It is necessary to ventilate the space between 
the ceiling and the roof, which in small houses (under 200 
tons) is adequately done by louvers at each end. In larger 
houses an additional ventilator — or two ventilators — on the 
roof is desirable. The earth itself forms the best floor, al- 
though it should be supplemented by a foot or eighteen inches 
of sawdust, upon which the ice is laid. The sawdust and the 
earth will absorb whatever water may result from melting ice. 
A bell trap should never be put in the floor, as this allows the 



20i 



MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



air to reach the ice and invariably causes it to melt faster at 
that point. The nearer the mass of ice intended to be stored 
approaches a cube, the better it will keep. With the construc- 
tion described above, the ice may be put directly against the 




IJ" THICK 



4'\8" 2.W.4- — la' o.o 

CROSS SECTION 

FIG 77.— ELEVATION AND DETAIL OF ICE HOUSE 



outside wall, and with ice so placed 45 cu. ft. of space is al- 
lowed for every ton. 

It seems impossible to do anything with the ice house to- 
wards making it sightly. The only thing, therefore, is to keep 




CIIKX CRIB. 



FARM BUILDINGS FOR CLIFFORD V. 
GLEN COVE, L. I 



BUOKAW, ESQ., 




CORK CRIB OF A TYPE FREQUENTLY USED BY HIE FARMER 




CORX CRIB. FARM BUILDINGS FOR W. P. HAMILTON'. ESQ., 
STKKI.IXGTOX, N. Y. 



OTHER BUILDINGS 205 

it out of sight, and the woods — a dense woods — is the best place 
for it. 

The author never builds an ice house, nor thinks of one, 
without recalling to mind an experience he had some years ago 
in connection with the construction of a large ice house at 
Skylands Farm. "Wishing to obtain as much reliable infor- 
mation as possible, he went to see the manager — in fact the 
president — of one of the largest ice companies in New York, 
to profit by his experience and his advice. The author, after 
dwelling at somewhat greater length upon his own views than 
he had intended — a not infrequent occurrence with those who 
seek the views of others, was replied to by the managing presi- 
dent somewhat as follows : "Well, we have built ice houses of 
wood, we have built ice houses of brick, we have built ice 
houses of stone, and put them above ground and below ground ; 
we have ice houses along the Hudson that hold 50,000 tons of 
ice, and the building which keeps ice the best is the one I have 
described to you. Tour theories are interesting, but my 
grandmother used to say that one fact was worth a dozen 
theories." 

This conversation took place some six or seven years ago 
and resulted, not only in the design of the ice house shown 
in Fig. 77, but, on the part of its architect, in an enduring 
appreciation of the wisdom of that grandmother. 

Corn Crib 

The corn crib can be included in the general plan for the 
farm barn so that it may be convenient to use and also add 
its note of interest to the general scheme. The practical re- 
quirements consist of providing a storage place where the corn 
may be dried out by the air and be protected from the foraging 



206 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 



parties of rodents which usually inhabit the barnyard and the 
field. To this end the inverted tin pan, which the farmer has 
placed atop the foundation posts of his corn crib, at once oc- 
curs to mind ; this method is characteristic and effective, and 
consequently architecturally appropriate. 

A not unusual style of corn crib is that shown in the plate 
opposite, arranged so that a wagon may be driven through 
it and unloaded into either side. This middle space also 
serves as additional shed room — a place in which to hitch a vis- 
iting farmer's horse during a friendly call. This same plate 
shows a better method still for increasing the shed room by util- 
izing the shelter afforded by the corn crib, and the author is 
indebted for this idea not to his own imagination but that of a 
client, Mr. W. P. Hamilton. Here the corn crib has been 
raised bodily, high enough above the ground to allow a horse 
and cart to be driven beneath. Each concrete post had cast 
into it a heavy hitching ring, and no horse as yet has succeeded 
in reproducing for himself what is told in the story of Samp- 
son. This little building was placed in the center of the farm- 
yard, where it has served its double purpose well. 




SKIM GABLE AT STABLE SHOWING CAREFULLY SELECTED STON1 S 
Will. LAID. "SKYLANDS." PR VNCIS LI NDE STETSON, ESQ., STERLING- 
TON, X. Y. 




DAIRY AND REAR END OF TII.FORD FARM BUILDINGS, MONROE, N. Y. 




FARM BUILDINGS FOR HENRY M. Til. FORD, ESQ., MONROE, X. Y 




GATE LODGE. FARM ENTRANCE TO "SKYLANDS." FRANCIS I.YNDE 
STETSON, ESQ., STERI.INGTON, N. Y. 



Chapter X 

THE MATERIALS FOR FARM BUILDINGS 

T)ERHAPS one of the first thoughts which comes to the 
■*■ mind of the man who is about to indulge himself in the 
delights of building — and there are delights, though some- 
times too soon dissipated — is, "Of what shall the building be 
built ? Shall it be stone, or brick or wood or stucco % What 
are the advantages of each and what are the various costs?" 

Apart from the brick or stone building, there is not enough 
difference under normal conditions between the cost of 
shingles, stucco, or siding to deter any one from choosing that 
material which suits him best. Brick and stone, however, are 
always more expensive than wood and are sometimes not as 
good as wood for the farm barn. Masonry walls are always 
cold in winter, though they are also cool in summer; but it 
must be remembered that the cattle are seldom in the stable 
in the summer time, while in the winter months they are 
seldom out of it. Ordinarily the barn is heated by the animals 
themselves, and with this heat is generated a high degree of 
moisture. The cold masonry walls readily condense this into 
water so that they must always be furred with wood that an 
air space may be formed between them and the inside air of 
the stable. We have lapsed for the moment into a practical 
phase, but only for the purpose of pointing out the most ad- 
vantageous way to use two of the most beautiful and perma- 
nent of all building materials, stone and brick. 

207 



208 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

The Stone Building 

If we could project our vision into the very remote past we 
would probably find that stone was the first building material. 
At any rate it has definitely retained this position throughout 
the period of recorded history. The many ways which the 
mason has devised for working and laying up nature's prime 
building material form an interesting chapter in the history 
of construction, and a long one, too, which we will not write 
now; but we will proceed directly to a consideration of the 
modern types of stone work and those especially adapted to 
our methods and our subject. 

Farm buildings need the simplest fashions in masonry, 
which would naturally eliminate from consideration the 
various varieties of sawn stone, sand stone, limestone or 
marble — a group of farm buildings veneered with slabs of 
marble, for instance, would be the very height of absurdity. 
Cleaved surfaces are therefore to be desired, and quite equal 
to these in use and beauty are the weathered and moss-covered 
faces of stones and bowlders which have lain for years in the 
old walls of our farms and fields. Here the stone has gone 
through that process of aging and crumbling in a natural 
state which is so delightful in its artificial state — in the walls 
and piers of old buildings exposed to centuries of use and 
rain and dust and storm and sunshine. The author remem- 
bers with pleasure the enthusiasm and eagerness of the aged 
custodian of St. Mary's College at Winchester in showing him 
the best weathered portions of the old stone structures erected 
by William of Wykeham in 1373-96 — that sturdy old bishop 
and builder whose forceful traditions have persisted even to 



THE MATERIALS 209 

the present day, for when the author ventured to suggest that 
thick green grass for a college court might perhaps be as 
pleasant as the cobblestones with which St. Mary's Courts are 
paved, the white-haired keeper of the keys, shaking with emo- 
tion and jangling the irons in his face, roared out, "That 
never would have done for "William of "Wykeham." 

The stones of St. Mary's College are beautiful in their 
weathering, and the lusty partisan of William of "Wykeham 
is justly proud of them, but they are no finer in color or texture 
than many stones to be readily found in ledges and rocks with 
which our country abounds and intu whose crevices has Beeped 
the damp and dust of the ages. Such material for the stone 
building in our northern country lies within ready reach and 
has lain so for many centuries, and let us hope that it would 
have looked good to the eyes of William of Wykeham. 

To the author the greatest advantage of the stone building 
lies in the fact that it never appears new, especially if in its 
construction we have been careful to select weathered stones 
and others valuable for their color. It is surprising to find 
how great a variety of grain and surface is to be found in 
bowlders and ledges which must be opened by plugging and 
feathering, the mason's method of splitting, and not by blast- 
ing with dynamite which shatters the stone into a state of utter 
uselessness. 

"We have just pointed out that the stone wall, per se, does 
not make for a comfortable building in which to house cattle 
unless just as much care is taken to make it dry with proper 
interior furring as is done for the house. Then the coldness 
of the stone construction ceases to be an objection and becomes 
a distinct advantage in the silos and the sheds, in the shops and 



210 MODERN FABM BUILDINGS 

machinery rooms where it is proof against the wear and tear 
of the careless teamster who is very liable to leave a reminder 
of his record in such places. Parts of the farm barn group 
may be built up in stone while the remainder of the building 
can well be carried out in wood, and it is desirable for the sake 
of economy and use to combine the two materials in the hay 
barn. Stone does not make an altogether good structure for 
the storage of hay as it will spoil and mold where it touches 
the walls, and in order to avoid this it is necessary to put 
against them a heavy wood furring. In fact it is a good thing 
to nail furring strips across the studs in the wooden barn so 
as to have around the hay as free a circulation of air as 
possible. 

Though stone may seem extremely hard in texture to the 
occasional eye, yet it must not be inferred from this that all 
stone — we are speaking now particularly of field stone — is 
suitable for building. Some of this stone is quite rotten as 
may readily be seen by striking it ; and even a harder quality 
may be so porous as to make it unfit for use. The author 
has known field stone walls to be so faulty in this regard that 
the water, in a heavy rain, would be literally blown right 
through them. All stone walls, therefore, are best given a 
coat of some waterproofing material, and particularly those 
which are to be plastered. 

Opposite pages 206 and 207 we present two types of stone 
work, both modern, both American and both effective and 
natural in our rough stone districts where rocks and bowlders 
and forests still remain in their natural state. Opposite page 
206 the treatment has been more conventional and greater care 
was taken in the process. The author personally selected the 



THE MATERIALS 211 

stones and bowlders which lay in profusion on the side of a 
nearby mountain. These were chosen for color, and beautiful 
colors they were, and though not showing in the illustration 
they are suggested in the contrasting shades of the various 
stones. So far as possible natural faces were preserved, but 
we did not hesitate to cut off the old surface if it was not in 
proper size or form. It will be noticed that here and there 
small stones project beyond the others, a special and important 
part of the technique of this piece of work, the projection of 
the smaller stones giving additional interest by breaking the 
surface at occasional points. The joints have been kept small 
and the beds of the great majority of the stones are level, 
though the vertical joints are not always at right angles to the 
horizontal. At the rake of the roof the shingles arc three 
times their usual thickness in order to make a finish of wood 
in scale with the masonry below. 

Opposite page 207 a more haphazard selection of individual 
units has been made, and generally the stones are large enough 
to give the impression that they would stay in place by their 
own weight. They are actually held there, however, by the 
product of that modern master-mason, the cement manu- 
facturer, who has done more for permanent masonry than all 
the rest of the science of building put together. In the rough 
bowlder type of stone work, of which the above is an example, 
the projections of the stones themselves may frequently be 
made so great that it is possible to plant in their sheltered 
crevices and joints lichens, cedums, and other small plants 
which grow contentedly and happily there. This is always 
an attractive embellishment which should not be forgotten, 
especially on the big wall which faces the sun and the South. 



212 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

To the average man stone seems more than others a fireproof 
material whose value in this respect is increased by roofing 
such structures with slate. While stone buildings with slate 
roofs make very agreeable architecture, they are not especially 
fireproof except to resist fire from the outside. Fire, how- 
ever, usually starts from within, and it is astonishing how 
stone will spall off and burn out in severe heat. Granite, so 
enduring in other respects, is particularly vulnerable in this. 
A large group of stone farm buildings which the author had 
just completed were burned down, and by actual measurement, 
on which the insurance was adjusted, 60 per cent of the stone- 
work had to be replaced; so that stone must be considered 
more of a fire retardant than a resistant, and interior fire 
walls — even in stone buildings — are better made of concrete. 

Stone has such a sturdy surface and gives the impression 
of so much strength, an appearance which does not belie the 
actual state, that a certain corresponding roughness of texture 
is desirable in the roof. If shingles are used, the rived cypress 
is the most appropriate, but slate is better roofing than any, 
and the thicker and rougher it is the more satisfactory to the 
eye. The graduated form of slate roof is always effective, 
and we are getting now the stone slabs for roofs frequently 
used in England, which will give our stone buildings quite a 
new and refreshing aspect. A brick panel now and then 
harmonizes with a stone wall and is a very natural use for our 
so-called "tapestry" brick. In fact, a rough brick or "bat" 
of this sort may be built into the stone wall itself at frequent 
intervals with excellent effect, and its dull red gives a note 
of color which could not otherwise be obtained. 

The pointing of the stonework is a thing to be considered. 




COACHMAN'S COTTAGE. "SKYLANDS." FRANCIS LYNDE STETSON, 
I SQ., STERLINGTON, V V. 




DAIRY FOR CLIFFORD V. BROKAW. ESQ.. C.I.EN COVE, I.. I. 




DETAIL OF THE BACK OF ARMOUR BUILDINGS 







FARM BUILDINGS FOR A. WATSON ARMOUR. ESQ., LAKE FORKS'!'. ILL. 






THE MATERIALS 213 

This should be done in as natural a manner as possible, which 
is found in filling the joint out practically to the surface of 
the wall. Raking the joint out and keeping the pointing well 
back from the face is an affectation which is not in good taste. 
Separating the stones in this manner accentuates the joints 
too much, making the wall look like a series of individual 
units, instead of giving to it the more desirable appearance of 
a continuous, homogeneous surface. 

One must not forget the advantageous effect to be gained 
on non-bearing walls by the use of thin coping stones, the 
almost invariable custom abroad. These are seldom more 
than one or two inches in thickness while the American prac- 
tice is to make them three or four. To the terrace and similar 
walls a coping is really a roof. It is necessary to keep the 
water out only, and a thin stone gives this idea its best form. 
A thick coping stone seems to indicate a bearing for some 
further construction and of course is the very method pursued 
for the resisting, bearing wall. The thin coping to the non- 
bearing wall is a nicer distinction and one which always shows 
for what it is worth. 

A delightful variety of stone construction and one which is 
particularly desirable for the buildings of which we are 
writing is the whitewashed stone wall. This is quite a usual 
treatment in the simpler stone houses of Southern England, 
and indeed is occasionally to be met with in our own South, 
but this manner is not so general here as one would wish. A 
great artistic advantage is gained in combining the lightness 
in color with the appearance of strength which stone always 
gives. Whitewash has, too, a happy way of looking artistic 
and sanitary at the same time, a rare combination of qualities, 



214 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

and like stonework it never looks new, at least never after the 
first week, for it is quick to respond to the softening influences 
of wear and weather. White is always an ideal background 
for planting and throws out in fine relief the delicate and 
beautiful structure of plant life. 

The Brick Building 

In a previous paragraph we indicated the antiquity of stone 
as a building material, but burnt clay has a very respectable 
lineage in point of time. In it has been developed some of the 
finest and most admired architecture, and in passing, the 
author would like to point out that there is only one color for 
brick and that is red. Our manufacturers have been assidu- 
ous in devising many shades, all of which we trust have had 
their day. None have stood the test of time, and a com- 
paratively short time has been sufficient for the test. 
Commercial structures may still rear their heads in other 
colors of brickwork, but for domestic use the old fashioned 
red brick is the best. In fact for the farm barn the common 
brick, if it is reasonably dark and variegated in its colors, is 
better than the more expensive "face" brick varieties. The 
great fault of our modern brick is its hardness. Manufac- 
turers have come to the author with selected samples of their 
wares, and sometimes, taking a small steel hammer from the 
pocket, will strike the brick and with a triumphant gleam in 
the eye say, "See! it rings like a bell." To which we have 
responded in numb iteration, "Yes, it rings like — a bell." 
Such bricks are just what is needed for street pavements, 
sewers and the like, for somehow or other your commercial 
man has breathed into them the spirit of perpetual youth. 



THE MATERIALS 215 

They never grow old. But for the building which one hopes 
to see mellow with age, and each year lose itself more and 
more in its environment, such bricks in appearance and prin- 
ciple of manufacture are the very antithesis of what is desired. 
The softness and the unevenness of their burning is what 
gives the very great charm to old English brick work. They 
do not ring like a bell when struck with a small steel hammer, 
but are very liable to break in two. 

In the use of brick for the farm building a very good method 
to employ is that of veneering, that is, putting up the wooden 
structure in the usual way and veneering it with brick. This 
was a manner devised by the old New England builders and 
later taken up by that wily person, the speculative builder, 
who put upon it the stigma of deception ; and consequently the 
veneered brick structure fell into disrepute. It has its advan- 
tages, however, especially in the farm group, some of which 
are economy and quickness of construction and a greater 
warmth and dryness in those buildings used for housing the 
animals. 

If the rugged quality of stone construction may be referred 
to as a masculine type, certainly by comparison the qualities 
of brick are suggestive of the term "feminine," for it has all 
the attributes which that name indicates. It is refined, grace- 
ful, wears well, and is not ostentatious — but here perhaps the 
simile ends — and it is reasonable as to cost in most localities. 
The Colonial builders developed a simple and satisfactory use 
of classical motives which for economy were carried out in 
wood while the walls and plain surfaces were in brick. They 
did this in a manner which has been difficult for our modern 
architects to simulate, simply because we cannot exercise that 



216 MODEEN FARM BUILDINGS 

fine restraint without which all art, and, indeed, life itself, 
becomes commonplace. While the design of all our modern 
brick architecture has been essayed in the Colonial or Tudor 
type, a fine field and one as yet entirely unexplored is the early 
brick architecture of Northern Italy, a style which is replete 
with the most engaging possibilities for the farm building. 

With the brick structure any kind of roof may be used, 
shingles, or slate, or tile, though the latter may accentuate the 
use of burnt clay too much. Ovir roofing tile more than our 
brick suffers from a too perfect technique in manufacture. 
The color and form are far too even, and the rigor of 
our climate makes a most complicated tile necessary, with 
overlaps and sinkages and drainings in order that it may 
be guaranteed water tight. The simple shapes of the old 
Spanish or Italian tile will not do for us, and consequently 
the ugly forms we see have been devised. The best of these 
are the simple flat tile laid like shingles, which do very well 
and give a note of color to the roof when this seems desirable. 
It would appear a safer principle of design, however, to rely 
on the outline of the roof for effect, rather than on its color. 
In the farm barn and, indeed, the country building in general, 
too much importance can not be given to its silhouette. 
Planting should be skillfully devised to shield its contact with 
the ground, and while roof lines may be appropriately broken 
here and there with tall trees, yet they will always remain the 
most conspicuous part of the structure. Let the architect, 
therefore, develop the roofs of his buildings in carefully 
studied outlines with nice joinings and contrasting gables and 
hips and tower tops, and the major part of his artistic prob- 
lem will have been solved. 








DETAIL OF SIDE ENTRANCE. BREWSTER GARAGE, BROOKVILLE, I. 1 





X TOWER. FARM BUILDINGS FOR PERCY 
BERNARDSVILLE, X. .1. 




GARAGE FOR GEORGE S. BREWSTER. ESQ., BROOKVIL 




GARAGE FOR CLIFFORD V. BROKAW, ESQ., GI.EX COVE. L. I. 



THE MATERIALS 217 

The Wooden Building 

Certainly in America the tradition of the farm barn is wood. 
All the old buildings were constructed of timber and many of 
them remain to attest its permanency for all practical require- 
ments. In fact, the author would like to point out here that 
wood, in the great majority of cases, makes the best material 
with which to construct the farm barn. It is dryer, such 
buildings are put up more quickly, and it is also cheaper than 
any other construction. Some of the most delightful 
examples of such buildings are to be found throughout New 
England and on Long Island, where the pine clapboard and 
the rived cedar shingle were used almost entirely for the out- 
side finish. 

For the exterior surface of wood there is none quite equal 
in effect to that given by the split cypress shingles now made 
in the South, but easily obtained here. The face is quite rough 
enough to give texture and to avoid the smooth and somewhat 
monotonous surface of the machine planed clapboards. 
While cypress shingles will last almost indefinitely without 
paint, the appearance of the building of classical design is 
greatly enhanced by painting it white. Then, too, the white 
exterior gives a spick-and-span look to the farm barn, and as 
we have before noted, white always makes a perfect back- 
ground for green foliage. While it is true that the white 
walls do get dirty in certain places, yet the eye does not seem 
to require the farm barn to be kept in the same state of painted 
freshness as the residence. The doorways and the doors 
themselves, especially at the latches, are certain to become 
soiled very quickly and sometimes these much used places 




218 




\it.\i r.rn. nixes 



FOB UXH.i'll MOLLENHAUER, 
I.. I. VIEW OF ENTRANXE 



ESQ., BAYSHORE 




MOLLENHAUER FARM BUILDINGS 




FARM BUILDINGS FOE MEDILL McCORMICK, ESQ., BYRN, ILL. 



219 



220 MODERN FAEM BUILDINGS 

have been painted black to conceal the dirt ; but this method of 
dodging an issue is more conspicuous and more unsightly than 
the thing itself. On the whole it is better to leave the doors 
white and to take the trouble to clean them at reasonable and, 
if possible, at regular intervals. One of the superintendents 
on a Long Island estate who has made there a reputation for 
cleanliness gives the farm barn its weekly scrubbing, not 
every Saturday night, but every Saturday afternoon. 

For the architectural form of the white shingle or clap- 
boarded buildings the old Colonial work of New England and 
Long Island seems particularly adaptable. The farm build- 
ings of our ancestors were entirely free from any attempt at 
ornament, and even in the house the moldings were simply 
designed and sparingly used, a habit of building which our 
modern architects have taken a long time to acquire. The 
gable end, perhaps the most characteristic feature of the old 
building, was limited in its embellishment to the simplest kind 
of a verge board running up the rake of the roof on top of 
which the shingles were laid. Sometimes this verge board 
had simply a bead at the outside edge, but in the more im- 
portant work the bead on the lower edge was enhanced by an 
ogee on the upper. The verge boards vary in width from 4 
inches to 6 inches, but are seldom if ever larger than 8 inches, 
and it is this simplicity in the treatment of the gable end 
which is perhaps the real secret of Colonial design. The plain 
wall here may be relieved by a trellis put against it, and for 
further embellishment the grape arbor and latticed walls when 
used in simple fashion are always effective ; but they must not 
be overdone, nor should they resemble what the architect used 
to do when the overworked pergola was a part of every 







•221 






222 MODERN" FARM BUILDINGS 

country house and for which he devised so many fearful forms 
of rafter ends. 

The square columns, the simpler types of the pediment and 
especially the elliptical arches, a distinctive and a beautiful 
feature of the old Colonial designers, are well adapted to the 
design of the farm buildings. The covered passageway may 
be made very interesting architectural!} 7 and very useful prac- 
tically. The flower box or plant box if judiciously used looks 
well, but this like other architectural features has been 
so overworked of late that it should be sparingly intro- 
duced. 

There are many delightful types of the old entrance door- 
ways which are particularly appropriate for the farm build- 
ings, and the forms of leaded glass on either side of the front 
door and in the transoms above are especially interesting. 
The lead, however, should always be painted white and never 
black as is sometimes done in modern work. 

Another point which is important for the designer of this 
style to consider is the window. This is invariably worked 
out to conform to stock sizes of glass. Such sizes then, as 
now, are always in even numbers, lights being 6" x 8", 8" x 10", 
8" x 12", etc. These stock sizes of glass always give very 
characteristic types of windows and it is better to preserve 
them than not, although this is not our modern practice. The 
muntins, however, must be made very thin, not over %" in 
thickness. The modern mill man frequently feels that this 
is much too small, and when this sentiment is expressed by the 
practical man it is always a satisfaction to refer him to these 
old windows, still intact, which have done duty for the past 
seventy-five or one hundred years. A student interested in 



THE MATERIALS 223 

this work should look carefully at the Colonial windows and 
see with what care and precision they were made. 

Then it is interesting to study the simple forms for the 
architrave, usually with a large ogee on the outside and a 
head on the inside with varying sinkages between, all quite in 
accordance with the classical formula. Interesting, too, are 
the designs of the old doors, particularly the flush panel type. 
These doors have the panels flush with the stile of the door on 
one side, with the panel molding usually formed on the stile 
itself on the other. It is astonishing how well the old wood 
was seasoned and how much better it is than any wood we are 
able to get now. While the author has followed out rigidly 
their design and construction yet our modern woodwork 
swells and shrinks to such an extent that a door built on the 
lines of the old joiner work has become impossible. 

To leap somewhat suddenly from interior details to exterior, 
it is always appropriate and satisfactory to use brick for the 
floors of passageways, platforms, etc. ; and these have a simpler 
and a more satisfactory effect if laid flatwise. Old flagstones, 
however, do very well, though they are sometimes difficult to 
get ; but the new split bluestone flag is always obtainable and 
is a very acceptable substitute. Concrete is economical but 
ugly ; especially so when it is made darker by the use of lamp 
black, which the practical floor man always advocates. This 
dark floor, however, is quite suitable in the stable, where the 
manure will stain the lighter color of the natural concrete. 
We do not tire in pointing out that the farm barn must rely 
on good proportions and a proper relation between its build- 
ings for its effect. This proportion and relationship is 
brought out more subtly in white buildings than in those of 





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FARM BUILDINGS FOR GEORGE S. BREWSTER, ESQ., BROOKVILLE, L. I. 



224 





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REAR ENTRANCE TO BREWSTER FARM BUILDINGS SHOWING THAT 
THE WOOD SHEDS MAY BE MADE INTO ATTRACTIVE ARCHITECTURE 




A REAR VIEW OF THE BREWSTER FARM BUILDINGS 



THE MATERIALS 225 

any other color, so that the architect must take up his problem 
seriously if he desires to succeed well with it. 

The Stucco Bfildixg 

Stucco is always au attractive medium for the outside sur- 
face of the country building. The rough texture gives an 
admirable place for the support of clinging vines, and the 
moving shadows of adjacent foliage seem always at home play- 
ing upon its surface. Stucco can be applied to the wooden 
building equally as well as to the building of brick or hollow 
tile, though the latter construction is less liable to crack and is 
therefore sometimes to be preferred. The author has, how- 
ever, stuccoed the entire surface of great wooden hay barns 
with excellent effect except for an occasional crack here or 
there which he felt had no artistic or practical disadvantage. 

There is no reason why the classical architectural motives 
should not be carried out in stucco, but usually this type of 
construction has been used for Gothic work or some of the 
modifications of this style. The so-called "half -timber" 
work, or "magpie" as it is termed in England, has developed 
stucco surfaces in this country more than any other type of 
design ; and indeed the interchange of plaster and wood strikes 
the popular fancy very pleasantly, though it can never be 
developed into really serious architecture. 

In connection with this somewhat fanciful use of stucco 
there have been from time to time various colorings put upon 
the market which were intended to give different shades and 
colors to the material, but the difficulty in their application 
lies in the utter impossibility of getting the same mixture of 
color in every batch of stucco. In fact, it is difficult in the 



226 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

ordinary process of putting on stucco, where only the lime, 
sand and cement are used, to get all mixtures identical, and 
for this reason architects usually specify that an entire side 
of the building is to be put on at one time and from one mix- 
ing, and that if any joinings are to be made they must be made 
at the corners. If color is used it is generally easier and more 
satisfactory to change the natural shade of the stucco by 
apprying a coat of paint or wash rather than to endeavor to 
change the color of the material itself. 

There are all kinds of finish for stucco, from the very rough 
"pebble dash" surface down to the troweled float finish. The 
float finish, as its name implies, is put on with a float, a wooden 
trowel which leaves a sanded surface instead of the smooth 
finish of the usual steel trowel. The English way, undoubt- 
edly the best, of putting on stucco, is to apply it with a paddle, 
usually called "pebble-dash" or "spatter-dash," a name pos- 
sibly inspired by seeing those who are inexpert apply the 
paddle coat of stucco. The stucco composed of lime, cement, 
sand and screened pebbles, varying in size from that of a pea, 
is mixed to the consistency of a good heavy slush and thrown 
against the building. "Pebble-dash" must be thrown or 
dashed as its name implies, as any effort to place the pebbles 
by hand is very unsatisfactory. It requires the uncertainty 
of the throw to give just the effect desired. 

Sometimes the finish of stucco is obtained by sweeping with 
a broom, but this is always lacking in character ; and so is the 
finish produced by rubbing with a piece of Brussels carpet. 
The country mason who perhaps has heard of stucco but never 
has seen it will jab his iron trowel into its soft surface at 
occasional intervals or smear on a cement flapjack here and 




BREWSTER FARM Bl'ILDINGS, BBOOKVILLE, I.. I. ENTRANCE TO 
Ml YS (,U VRTERS 




BURCHARD FARM BUILDINGS, LOCUST VALLEY, L. I., SHOWING 
DAIRY AND END OF COW BARN 




GENERAL VIEW 



OF FARM BUILDINGS FOR AN; 
ESQ.. LOCUST VALLEY, L. I. 



>X \V. IHTvl'H \RD. 




BUIU'HARD FARM BUILDINGS. VIEW FROM GARDEN 
FARMER'S HOUSE AND REAR OF DAIRY 



SHOWING 



228 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

there in an endeavor to prove his artistry, with a result which 
is as unique as it is astonishing. The student of stucco may 
find many similar amusing examples if he will take the pains 
to look about him. 

A stucco exterior is perhaps more suggestive than any other 
in the freedom with which it may be embellished architectur- 
ally. Wood may be used for the exterior trim, but perhaps a 
more suitable material is brick or terra cotta. Terra cotta in 
colors is a particularly engaging material, and in a large group 
of farm buildings built some years ago the author developed 
terra cotta panels and friezes where the ornamental motive 
was taken directly from the barnyard. There were innumer- 
able portraits of chickens, ducks, geese, horses, cows ; and even 
the frog was used as a decoration for the lanterns surmounting 
the main entrance gates, a conceit which at the time interested 
him greatly. 

With the stucco building, the whole repertoire of roofs may 
be used, shingles stained or unstained, tile red or green. Slate 
is always satisfactory, but the rougher its surface the better ; 
and it should be from one-half inch to one inch in thickness as 
thinner slate is very likely to break, and in the process of 
fixing more slate is frequently damaged than is repaired. 

One of the most interesting uses of stucco is in the half 
timber construction, but the timber should always be rough. 
Timber cut with the adze is best, and treated so that it will 
show the grain of the wood, which means that the painter must 
use a very light stain — not necessarily light in color but light 
in substance. Raw linseed oil with a little burnt umber is 
about the thing and is much better than the boiled linseed oil, 
which leaves a film upon the surface of the wood that is not 



THE MATERIALS 229 

desirable. The woodwork at all times should show the grain, 
and the more this is affected by the weather the better it 
looks. There is nothing more disheartening for the architect 
than to find that as his timber work is beginning to show the 
signs of age the owner has made the same discovery and has 
had it freshly repainted, or what is perhaps worse, varnished. 
Cypress is an excellent wood to use for exterior finish. So is 
chestnut. Both take the stain well and are of such quality as 
naturally to withstand the elements and both grow old grace- 
fully. Consequently a coat of oil every four or five years is 
all that is necessary to keep them permanently in good 
condition. 

But after all, stucco perhaps less than any other surface 
needs embellishment. The more it weathers and molds the 
better it looks ; and while the use of stucco certainly demands 
taste it does not always require a high degree of workmanship. 
The author has never been keenly interested in the perfection 
of the technique of building, for the history of most phases of 
art shows that technique is usually improved at the expense of 
virility in design. Stucco does not ordinarily require a high 
degree of skill in its application, though it does in the proper 
mixing of its ingredients, and its plastic surface has a 
beautiful quality which is particularly appropriate for 
country building. 

The Farmer's Cottage 

Not the least interesting part of the farm group is the 
farmer's cottage, and here the architect has a chance to give 
his work a real flavor if use and environment are any whet to 
his imagination. The farmer's house may be an independent 




5-10 



W«GO» 






FARM BUILDINGS FOR HOWARD BROKAW, ESQ., BROOKVILLE, L. I. 



230 




FARM BUILDINGS FOR HOWARD RKokWV. ESQ., BROOKVILLE, I.. I. 




FARMER'S COTTAGE. BROKAW FARM BUILDINGS, BROOKVILLE, L. I. 




GARDENER'S COTTAGE FOR MRS. C. R. THORN, MASSAPEOUA, L. T. 

THE BODY OF MAIN* HOUSE IS OLD AXD THE DORMERS, FRONT PORCH 

AND ADDITIONS NEW 




GARDENER'S COTTAGE, GLENN STEWART, ESQ., LOCUST VALLEY, L. I. 



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FARMER'S COTTAGE FOR MRS. C. R. THORNE, MASSAPEQUA, L. I. 
231 



232 MODERN FARM BUILDINGS 

one, quite removed from the farm barns themselves, or it may 
be combined with them, always a pleasing and a practical 
arrangement; and sometimes the farmer's quarters may be 
had in a second story of the buildings themselves, though this 
is the least desirable place for them. 

In the design of the farmer's house the architect has most 
excellent material as a precedent. Nothing could be more 
satisfactory than the designs of the home builders of our 
Colonial period, and the author here confesses his perpetual 
wonderment and admiration for the little white clapboarded 
or shingle buildings which one sees nestling among the trees 
of our old and sometimes abandoned farms. How the 
builders of that time had so happy a faculty of producing 
such natural and effective architecture compared with what 
is produced now under similar circumstances is a question to 
which he has never been able to find a satisfactory answer. 

These old houses were all built by carpenters who had as 
their guide the simplest sort of architectural text books, if 
indeed they had any books at all ; but they developed a style 
which must have been as refreshing in its day as it is in ours. 
One has only to compare it with the work of our modern 
architects to realize that a training at the Beaux Arts has done 
much more harm than good when it comes to revising the 
simple architectural forms of the Colonial period. 

The aesthetic principles of the old builders were of the 
practical, primitive variety. They knew no magic which we 
do not know, nor pretended to any. What they did was to 
devise for their buildings an agreeable outline, a simple and 
appropriate arrangement of windows, a slight concentration 
of interest at the main doorway, and sometimes an embellish- 



THE MATERIALS 233 

nient at the main cornice line ; principles the results of which 
are just as apparent and satisfying whether one is studying 
the facade of the Farnese Palace or a Long Island farm house. 
A blessing, perhaps in disguise, was the fact that they had to 
make all ornamentation by hand, which was the best possible 
deterrent against making too much of it. The great trouble 
with our modern work is that it is overburdened with detail 
and staggering under the weight of too much architecture. 
It is only necessary to compare the new with the old in the 
most casual way to see this point very forcibly. Then the old 
work had the great advantage of being hand made as compared 
with our work which is machine made. Machines work 
quickly and cheaply, but their product is as cold and hard 
in its artistic quality as the steel of which they are con- 
structed. 

Nor seldom did the old farm house lack the friendly hand 
of the landscape architect, though he probably did not have 
that ambitious title in those days. He exercised his calling 
with rare good judgment and taste, as may frequently be seen 
in the two majestic elm trees on either side of the front door 
of many a New England homestead, in the clumps of lilac 
which adorn the front yard, in the ampelopsis or the wistaria 
which wanders over the sides and roofs of his buildings, to say 
nothing of those ingratiating old fashioned gardens which 
sometimes adorn the flanks of the entrance walk, or stand 
against the sunny wall of an extension or wing, or wander 
down the sides of a tottering grape arbor. Boxes and cedar 
trees may be found in symmetrical placements, all doing their 
full share in making the old farm house that comfortable and 
reposeful shelter which is coming to be known as America's 



234 MODERN" FARM BUILDINGS 

humble but still delightful contribution to the pleasant art of 
building. 

But to return to the actual problem of housing the farmer : 
the requirements, save for the comforts of living (and cer- 
tainly no one deserves them more), have changed very little. 
Steam heat and sanitary plumbing go without saying, but 
that ever-present structure to the kitchen yard, the classic 
wood shed, is just as useful now as in days when coal was 
almost unheard of. Here is that handy place for things out 
of immediate use or present humor. Wood to be sure is some- 
times there, but frequently in a mean minority. In New 
England the wood shed was used not only for wood and for 
disciplining wayward sons, but it was made to serve a useful 
and an aesthetic purpose in connecting the farmer's house to 
those happy rambling constructions which he built from time 
to time as occasion required to accommodate his expanding 
farmhold. In this manner he was able to proceed under cover 
in harsh weather to tend his flocks and herds. Such an ar- 
rangement is still an ideal one, not only in its practical con- 
venience, but in its architectural possibilities as well. 

Perhaps the most noticeable development in the needs of 
the modern farm house has been in the accommodations now 
desirable for the help. The attic room for the hired man has 
become in some instances a boarding house of almost majestic 
proportions. Indeed, if the farm is to be run with any degree 
of permanent comfort, quarters for the men must be provided. 
Just what these should consist of varies somewhat with the 
type of help employed. With the usual men's lodging house 
is provided a common living room with books and magazines 
and farm papers. All this is as it should be, but in one 



THEMATEEIALS 235 

instance which occurred in the author's practice this room led 
to such a boisterous and heated exchange of opinions and 
finally to such deep cuttings and stabbiugs that it had to be 
given up and was made into separate bed rooms, when quiet, 
undisturbed by argument, returned to the farm once more. 
This unpleasant condition is more likely to occur with foreign 
labor. 

With regard to the plan of the farm house, one cannot do 
better than revert to the old type, a narrow hall in the middle, 
usually with two rooms on each side, four rooms downstairs 
and four upstairs ; and when more room is needed, a one-story 
extension is added, housing the kitchen quarters. This 
always give a pleasing combination, a two-story main house 
and a one story wing, and was certainly pleasantly described 
when it was dubbed a "cow and a calf." 

This plan, however, is always an economical one — it gives 
access to each room and privacy to each. The narrow hall is 
easily heated and easily shut off on cold nights if something 
should happen to the furnace. Now that steam heat has 
become so effective the hall may be omitted and the extra 
space thrown into a living room, but curiously enough the 
farmer does not take kindly to this plan and always accepts it 
under protest. He is not prone to new arrangements nor does 
he yet receive an innovation to his home with open arms. As 
to the number of rooms, five should be a minimum, a kitchen, 
dining-room and three bedrooms, with the bath on the second 
story. Sometimes this is put on the first floor, but it is not 
convenient there and corresponds somewhat to the location 
given to the servants' bathroom a decade or two ago when it 
was the custom to put the servants in the attic and their bath 




StGCMD fLOOR PLAM 




Hest Flooe Plan 



FARMER'S COTTAGE 
FARM BUILDINGS FOR ADOLPH MOLLENHAUER, ESQ., BAYSHORE, L. I. 

236 









THE MATERIALS 237 

in the cellar; and yet each generation in its turn marvels at 
the increasing growth of socialism. 

But as the farmer seems to be immune from the contagion 
of such disturbing philosophies, the author has tried to reward 
him when he has been able to do so by making his home a 
comfortable one. The kitchen where the woman of the house- 
hold spends much of her time should be light, and with a cool 
exposure, likewise a porch which is livable. Nothing is better 
to work on than a good, heavy linoleum, and there is nothing 
worse than concrete. A good kitchen sink and wash trays, 
good dressers and closets, and white tile behind the range and 
such embellishments of the culinary work shop do not* go 
a-begging at the farm. Then should be formed a suitable 
storage for vegetables in the cellar with the old-fashioned 
hanging shelf, safe out of reach of the roving rodent; and a 
proper place for the storage of jams and catsups and preserves 
not always under lock and key, we trust, if a boy goes with the 
fami. 

If the farmer's wife is to board the men they should have 
their own entrance to the dining-room, and their quarters, 
while distinctly separated from the farm house, should be 
sufficiently near for convenience. Closets are just as much 
appreciated as in the house with a dozen servants, and the 
thoughtfulness which provides these and other domestic com- 
forts seldom goes unrecognized or unrewarded. After all 
there is very little real difference in human emotions or in the 
cause of them. They may find a different expression, but the 
man who toils in the fields is at heart about the same as the 
one who works in the office, and the home is the ideal of both. 

THE END 



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